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THE MESSAGE OF JESUS 
mirabile dict v. 


Hy, Fi i 
panes 
eh 





TRAINING COURSES FOR LEADERSHIP 
Bible Text Series 


E. B. CHAPPELL, D.D., Editor 





THE MESSAGE 
OF JESUS 


A SURVEY OF THE TEACHING OF JESUS 
CONTAINED IN THE SYNOPTIC GOSPELS 


BY ita 
HARVIE BRANSCOMB“<o* ” 


uf 
PROFESSOR OF NEW TESTAMENT / 
DUKE UNIVERSITY | 





NASHVILLE, TENN. 
COKESBURY PRESS 
1926 


CopPpyRIGHT, 1926, 
BY 
LAMAR & BARTON 


Fa 





PRINTED IN THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA 


THIS BOOK IS DEDICATED 
TO 
MY FATHER 


WHO HAS BEEN PREACHING THE MESSAGE OF JESUS 
FOR MORE THAN FORTY YEARS 


Digitized by the Internet Archive 
in 2022 with funding from 
Princeton Theological Seminary Library 


httos://archive.org/details/messageofjesussu00bran_0 


PREFACE 


TuIs small volume has been written to serve as one 
of a series of textbooks for use by adult classes and 
study groups. This fact has determined to a consider- 
able extent the form and content of the book. The plan 
of the series calls for another volume on the Fourth 
Gospel, and this study has been confined therefore to 
the material in the first three Gospels. Nor could such 
a textbook be exhaustive even upon that part of the field, 
and there are many phases of the teaching of Jesus which 
the author has consciously, though regretfully, omitted. 

The quotations from the Old Testament and the New 
Testament have been taken from the English Revised Ver- 
sion except where otherwise noted. 

It is a pleasure to acknowledge my indebtedness to Prof. 
George Thomas of Southern Methodist University for 
reading the manuscript and making invaluable criticisms 
and suggestions, and to Dr. E. B. Chappell, the editor 
of the series, whose experience and wisdom have been 
appealed to on more than one occasion. 


HARVIE BRANSCOMB. 
DuKE UNIVERSITY. 








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CONTENTS 


CHAPTER I 
PAGE 
Tue Recorps oF His TEACHING AND THE WAY 
SS LIGIN TO sO rnin agra NEM Ge cue estas oe 11 
CHAP Rell 
JESUS AND THE OLD TESTAMENT............000- 31 


GHA Eh DDL 


Neorore ACHING ABOUT WCIOD Ys oy. siete sins rahe ate che 46 
CHAPTER IV 

Reet PATTON NEMO KE COD. o'eav die is Wt ers o oh eia kee ee ahe alee 64 
CHAPTER V 

erm aM ent Or THE KINGDOM. «ois dc kde gene 80 
CHAPTER VI 

RV erarre MIGHT EOUSNESS faces Ch eet oe es eal 98 


CHAPTER VII 


THE CHRISTIAN DISPOSITION—LOVE......... peas DeLee 


7 


CONTENTS 


CHAPTER VIII 


PAGE 
THE CHRISTIAN DISPOSITION—HUMILITy, SIN- 


CERTTY  FLEROISM aiyuin) Wirt atta Rely ae eae 131 
CHAPTER IX 
THE CHRISTIAN SPIRIT IN PRACTICE—MONEY 
MATTERS 6 OAS Oe AC a 148 
CHAPTER X 
THe CHRISTIAN SPIRIT IN PRACTICE—DOMESTIC 
Lr NPC UN UR ieee ie 165 
CHAPTER XI 
THE REWARDS) OF THE KINGDOM 14.) oon ool Ene 183 


CHAP Ti Roath 


JESUSIAND (THE; ISINGDOM AN ¢ 5/0/11) ul aes pene 206 


GHAR TER. 


THE RECORDS OF HIS TEACHING AND THE 
WAYe JESUS (fi AUGHT 


I 


Ir was practically two thousand years ago that Jesus 
taught. At that time even the “old countries” of north- 
ern Europe were still primeval forests and the only people 
found there were barbaric tribes who looked out on seas 
that were to them the limits of the world. South of the 
long barrier of the Alps and the Danube, on the warm 
peninsulas jutting into the Mediterranean Sea, were the 
ancient civilizations which we call Greece and Rome. In 
Jesus’ day the former of these had disappeared as a 
political entity but continued as a powerful cultural force. 
Its art was the pattern of the civilized world, its litera- 
ture was read by all who sought to be educated, its lan- 
guage had become the medium of universal intercourse. 
In the world of affairs Rome ruled supreme. Her sol- 
diers trod the roads from Parthia to Spain, her courts 
administered justice, in the name of her emperor the 
taxes were collected. Yet these civilizations which were 
the powers of that age have been swept away. Only 
a few traces remain—a crumbling arch here, a broken 
statue there, a few yellow manuscripts which preserve 
a remnant of that classic thought. 

In one of the distant corners of that ancient empire 
Jesus did his work. The little Galilean towns in which 


11 





THE MESSAGE OF JESUS 





he spoke were unknown in the greater centers of civili- 
zation. His hearers were for the most part simple 
peasants and fishermen. In all his life he probably never 
met a person above the rank of the obscure Roman 
procurator who condemned him to death. He himself 
never wrote a line and no official observers or court re- 
corders were present to watch the scenes of his activity. 
And yet out of the change and wreckage of the cen- 
turies have come his words, more enduring than the 
empire which condemned him and more treasured than 
all the art and literature of the Greek genius. It is not 
until one recalls the obscure origin and the centuries 
that have gone by and then visualizes the hundreds of 
millions of homes in modern America and other lands 
where the record of that life and work is reverently read, 
that one is in the proper mood to begin such a study ag 
this. In that contrast lies the greatest of all the miracles, 
the “sign” ever repeated in each generation. The most 
abiding thing out of all the ancient past is the four 
Gospels. 

But while this is true, we must also be conscious of a 
further fact. What we have preserved in our Gospels is 
really only a portion, a very small fragment of what he 
really taught. That is of course obvious. The teaching 
of several years we have compressed into a very few 
pages.. Take as an example the Sermon on the Mount. 
Here is the presentation of what must have been a long 
discourse, yet the Sermon as we have it can be read 
through in less than twenty minutes. Or take the case 
of the parables, whose beauty of form would make them 
immortal quite apart from the message which they con- 
tain. Mark, speaking of the days of his public ministry 


12 


Tue MESSAGE OF JESUS 


in Galilee, says, “Without a parable spake he not unto 
them.” Yet he gives from this period only four examples 
of these parables. In spite of the number added by 
Matthew and by Luke there must have been hundreds of 
these beautiful narratives which have been lost. 

Of course this partial character of the written account 
is inevitable. No narrative can record all the events of 
a lifetime. A living personality cannot be entirely trans- 
ferred to paper. The writer of the Fourth Gospel evi- 
dently felt this keenly, for he closes his book with the 
pardonable hyperbole, “And there are many other things 
which Jesus did, the which, if they should be written 
every one, I suppose that even the world itself would not 
contain the books that should be written.” Particularly 
was it inevitable that the account should be incomplete 
in the period of the first century when books were writ- 
ten on papyrus rolls and as a result were sharply limited 
in their length. But these considerations do not quite 
explain the case. Our account is limited partly because 
the four Gospels retell to a large extent the same story, 
and each does not confine itself to recording such inci- 
dents or sayings as had been omitted by earlier gospels. 
Every Sunday school teacher is familiar with this fact. 
The four Gospels do not tell separate stories, but quite 
evidently present that portion of the life of Jesus which 
each one considered most important for his own purpose. 
Thus all four evangelists tell the story of the feeding of 
the five thousand, all of them give in detail the story of 
the Passion, all four tell the account of the cleansing 
of the Temple. The first three again and again repeat 
the same incidents, so much so that many so-called Har- 
monies of the Gospels have been printed, giving the 


13 


THE MESSAGE OF JESUS 


narratives of these Gospels in parallel columns. Indeed, 
it has been calculated that in the case of Mark, all but 
about thirty verses of the story are to be found retold 
in the Gospels of Matthew and Luke. 

The explanation of this fact is to be found in the con- 
ditions under which the Gospels were written and the 
purposes which the writers had in mind. 

The early Church had no New Testament. Up and 
down the Empire Paul and the other apostles had gone, 
telling by word of mouth the story of Jesus and his 
power. They used the word “gospel,” but they meant 
by it the good news of salvation which they were pro- 
claiming and not a written record. (See Romans 1:1, 
2:16, etc., for illustrations of this original meaning of 
the word.) How men learned the facts of the story 
of Jesus’ earthly life may best be shown perhaps by 
a quotation from one of the early Christians. Papias, 
bishop of the little town of Hierapolis and its environs 
at the beginning of the second century, wrote as follows: 
“T used to inquire what had been said by Andrew, or by 
Peter, or by Philip, or by Thomas or James, or by John 
or Matthew or any other of the Lord’s disciples, and 
what Aristion and the Elder John, the disciples of the 
Lord, were saying. For books to read do not profit me 
so much as the living voice sounding up to the present 
day in the persons of their authors.”1 There was no 
need for a New Testament while those were still living 
whom Luke describes as “from the beginning eyewitnesses 
and ministers of the word.” ? 


*Quoted by Jerome, De Vir Illust. 18. 
SLuke bs; 


14 


THE MESSAGE OF JESUS 





Thus there was no thought of a New Testament, not 
even a consciousness of a need for one when the earliest 
books of the canon were written. Why then were they 
written? Simply because there arose occasions when 
these men could not give in person the messages which 
they felt called to deliver. It was because Paul saw his 
Galatian converts led astray into a perversion of the gospel 
at a time when he could not immediately go to them 
that he poured forth in great emotion the sentences of 
the letter that we call Galatians. It was because “it hath 
been signified unto me by them of the household of 
Chloe that there are contentions among you,’ * that he 
wrote 1 Corinthians. In the case of Philemon, it was 
because the apostle was sending back to his Christian 
friend a runaway slave whom he wished to commend 
to Philemon’s brotherly regard. In all these cases Paul 
writes with no future generations in mind, but in such 
a fashion that future generations have found in his 
letters the portrayal of the mind of Christ and have turned 
to them for inspiration and for guidance. 

So also in the case of the Gospels. They were not writ- 
ten with the purpose of providing biographies of Jesus 
for future generations, but to meet immediate and spe- 
cific needs. Each writer had certain definite readers in 
mind and recorded the things which he felt those par- 
ticular readers most needed to know. Their motive was 
evangelical rather than primarily historical. “These 
things are written,’ says John, “that ye may believe that 
Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that believing 


31 Corinthians 1: 11. 
15 





THE MESSAGE OF JESUS 





ye may have life in his name.’* That is the motive 
and purpose of them all. 

This conception of the Gospels is fundamental to any 
clear understanding of them whatsoever. Once it is 
gained we have the answer to several of our questions. 
It is perfectly obvious now why it is that we find inci- 
dents and sayings retold in the various Gospels. Each 
evangelist selected his material with a view solely to the 
needs of his readers, whether the saying or the event 
had been described in a previous Gospel or not. Take 
the story of the death and resurrection, for instance. Can 
we imagine Luke leaving it out of his account to The- 
ophilus simply because Mark had already narrated it for 
the Christians at Rome? Or take the illustration which 
has been already used, the parables. Could any account 
of the teaching of Jesus be given that did not include 
certain of these beautiful and characteristic stories? 
Thus, as we read the four Gospels, we find the stories 
repeated in part and constantly overlapping, simply be- 
cause the materials of each were chosen without reference 
to what some other writer had set down. 

And this fact of purpose and objective explains an- 
other problem. If we compare our several Gospels, we 
shall find that frequently there will be some slight dis- 
crepancy in the detail of an incident or a difference 
in the wording of a saying. Some people have been 
disposed to make much of such comparisons, as if it 
indicated a sort of failure on the part of the Gospel 
writers. But the point is that the evangelists never set 
out to draw up any such systematic set of documents. 


*John 20: 31. 
16 


THE MESSAGE OF JESUS 


Writing in different parts of the ancient world, in some 
cases quite likely not even aware of the existence of 
the other Gospel, and in all cases more interested in the 
total impression upon the reader than in the wording 
of a sentence, such literal agreement was no part of 
their intention. As a result one may marshal many a 
difference of detail or of wording. The stock example 
of such discrepancies is of course the wording of the 
inscription which Pilate caused to be placed over the 
cross of Jesus. Here we have four accounts and in no 
two of them is the wording exactly the same. But I do 
not doubt that if someone had come to St. Mark and 
pointed out to him that Matthew’s Gospel declared that 
Pilate wrote, “THis is JESUS THE KING OF THE JEWS,” 
whereas his own account stated that he wrote only “THE 
KING OF THE JEWS,” he would not have considered the 
matter worth the trouble of correcting. In some of the 
differences, as in the case of the Lord’s Prayer, which 
is longer in Matthew than in Luke, each writer no doubt 
gave the form in use in the particular Christian churches 
with which he was acquainted. But in all such differences 
of wording and detail we are led back to the explana- 
tion, that the Gospels are not written with reference 
to each other. Each writer poured forth the story as 
he was acquainted with it, selecting his material and 
writing the story with its intended readers in mind. Each 
wrote undisturbed by the fear of a difference in wording 
between his Gospel and some other account, because each 
was conscious of the fact that he was called of the Spirit 
to do this work and that the power of God for upbuilding 
lay in his message. 


17 





THE MESSAGE OF JESUS 





II 


Let us take the four Gospels separately and note 
the occasion which called each forth. It is generally 
agreed that the earliest of the four was Mark. Its author 
was undoubtedly the John Mark in whose mother’s home 
in Jerusalem the early Church met. His life, so far as 
we know it from the New Testament, is a parable: he 
is never mentioned except as the assistant or helper to 
some apostle far more prominent than himself. First it 
is Paul and Silas with whom he traveled as an “attend- 
ant’’;° then later it is Paul at the close of his life who 
writes from prison that Mark “is useful unto me for 
ministering” ;® then it is Peter with whom early tradition 
states that he traveled as an interpreter... He was a 
plain man and writes his Gospel with no flourishes or 
efforts at style. He loved action and his Gospel is almost 
entirely concerned with the deeds of Jesus. Occasionally 
he cannot resist the temptation to tell a good story 
whether it be important for his purpose or not, as his 
account of the young man who fled from the garden of 
Gethsemane leaving his one linen garment in the sol- 
diers’ hands. 

How he came to write his Gospel we know only from 
tradition, but it is an old tradition and for its main 
features there are several authorities. The fullest state- 
ment of this is given in the writings of Clement of 
Alexandria. He describes its origin in these words: 
“While Peter was preaching the word publicly in Rome, 


P Acts 1a7> ech Acts 12° 12. 
*2 Timothy 4: 11. 
™So Papias, Ireneus, Clement of Alexandria, and others. 


18 


THE MESSAGE OF JESUS 





. . . those who were present, being many, besought Mark, 
as one who had followed him from afar and remembered 
what he had said, to write down the things which he 
had told. He did this and delivered over the Gospel to 
those who had asked him. Which fact Peter knew, but 
he neither hindered him nor encouraged him in the un- 
dertaking.”® This most interesting tradition finds con- 
firmation from the Gospel itself in two particulars: it was 
clearly written for western, non-Jewish readers, for Mark 
explains even the simplest customs of the Jews; and in 
the second place its story does have a special interest 
in Peter and his relation to the Lord. Practically all 
scholars agree that it was written some time in the period 
60-75 A.D. 

Matthew and Luke were probably written within ten 
or fifteen years of the date of Mark. They are alike 
in that they add to the general story of the life of Jesus 
which Mark presents many illustrations and quotations 
from the teaching of our Lord. Luke we know in the 
New Testament as the companion and physician of St. 
Paul. He was a Greek, and the Greek literary tradition 
is evident on many a page of the Gospel. As to the 
occasions of the compositions of these two Gospels we 
have no exact information. Luke’s Gospel was a letter 
to his friend Theophilus, “that thou mightest know the 
certainty concerning the things wherein thou wast in- 
structed.”® We may reasonably guess, however, that 
Luke had in mind a larger audience than Theophilus 


*Clement of Alexandria. Quoted in Eusebius: Hist. Eccl. 
Vina: 
* Luke 1: 4. 


19 


THE MESSAGE OF JESUS 


alone. Certainly he would expect the letter to be read 
to the church of which his friend was a member. In 
the case of the First Gospel there is no salutation and 
we do not know who were the first readers of the book. 
But every page of it reveals one fact, that it was written 
with the aim of showing that Christ was the fulfillment 
of the Old Testament Scriptures and Christianity a new 
covenant superseding the ancient one of Israel. Nowhere 
is there allowed to intrude a hint of its author’s name, 
but Christian tradition has been unanimous that the Apos- 
tle Matthew himself had a hand in the work. There 
are certain strong reasons for thinking that he was not 
the sole author of the completed Gospel as it now stands, 
but that he wrote perhaps an earlier form of the Gospel 
or else a document—such as a collection of Jesus’ teach- 
ing—which has been incorporated into it. 

These three Gospels, Matthew, Mark and Luke, form a 
group by themselves. They were written at practically 
the same time, anc they deal with the same general aspects 
of the life and work of Jesus. They have been called 
the Synoptic Gospels, a term which goes back to the 
fact that their stories are so much alike that they can 
be arranged in parallel columns and thus studied as 
one account. 

On the other hand, the distinction and uniqueness of 
the Fourth Gospel has been recognized from the earliest 
days of the Church. Clement of Alexandria, for example, 
whom I quoted a moment ago, concludes his statements 
as to the Gospels with this striking sentence: “Last of 
all, John, perceiving that the external facts had been made 
plain in the gospel, being urged on by his friends and in- 

20 





THE MESSAGE OF JESUS 


spired by the Spirit, composed a spiritual Gospel.” ?° His 
remark splendidly sums up the contrast between John 
and the others. The Synoptists are primarily interested 
in telling the facts of their story. John seeks to a much 
greater degree to make explicit the meaning and signifi- 
cance of that life to the world. The difference goes back 
to the different conditions under which they were written. 
The Synoptists did their work at a time when the evan- 
gelical zeal of the Church was at its height and when 
the great need was to proclaim the facts. The Fourth 
Gospel, on the other hand, was written a generation later, 
when that first epoch-making century was drawing to a 
close, and the Christian movement had swept out of its 
narrower circles and found itself face to face with many 
new and difficult problems of the Grzco-Roman world: 
The first generation of Christians had now nearly all 
died, the ardor of the faith had begun somewhat to cool, 
the Church which had been expecting the immediate re- 
turn of the Lord was beginning to despair. When John 
wrote, therefore, he stood between two centuries and at 
the confluence of two civilizations, the Jewish and the 
Greek. He sets himself the task of bringing out the 
eternal meaning of the work of Christ. To do this he 
selects the events which he feels most important for his 
purpose and in no sense undertakes to write a complete 
biography. To the words of Jesus he adds his own 
convictions. The best illustration of this is the third 
chapter, in which Jesus’ conversation with Nicodemus 
leads up to verse sixteen, where the discourse changes 
into the third person and we have that great passage 


See Eusebius: Historia Ecclesia VI. 14: 7. 
21 





THE MESSAGE OF JESUS 





which begins with the words that might be called the es- 
sence of the gospel: “For God so loved the world, that he 
gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth on 
him should not perish, but have eternal life.” Truly, 
Clement was right when he declared that “last of all 
. .. John, perceiving that his external facts had been 
made plain . . . inspired by the Spirit, composed a spir- 
itual gospel.” 

It is because of this difference in purpose and in char- 
acter between the Fourth Gospel and the Synoptic Gos- 
pels, a difference recognized from the second century on, 
that the editors of this series of books have confined this 
volume to a study of the Synoptic Gospels. Another vol- 
ume will be devoted to the work of John. 


III 


With this brief survey of the Gospels, we turn to 
the teaching itself. What sort of teacher was Jesus? 
What was his method? 

To answer these questions we must study the sayings 
themselves rather than any book about them. They 
carry their own message and are their own best inter- 
preter. Before going any further with this chapter I 
suggest to the reader that he turn to the Gospels and re- 
read some chapter of Jesus’ sayings, no matter how fa- 
miliar its general contents may be. Though one chapter 
is practically as good as another for this purpose, I 
suggest either the fifth chapter of Matthew or the twelfth 
chapter of Luke. If the reader will do this I believe 
he will find that the teaching of Jesus had the following 
four characteristics : 


22 


Tre MESSAGE OF JESUS 


(1) It was natural, not formal. In the first place, the 
occasion of his teaching was marked by the greatest nat- 
uralness and informality. We never read of a prepared 
address delivered on a formal occasion. The greatest 
sermon that he preached was out in the open, on the side 
of one of the low, sloping mountains in Galilee. Re- 
peatedly we find him preaching beside the sea. Frequently 
he taught in the houses of friends and disciples. Once 
it is in a desert place. There was nothing stilted or 
formal in a message that could be delivered in such places 
as these. 

Most of his teaching seems to have been extempore, 
and therefore completely informal. Even when he spoke 
at the synagogue services—a forum available for any 
Jew who had a message to deliver—this seems to have 
been the case. Take for example the story which Luke 
places at the beginning of his public ministry.*t He 
was in Nazareth and on the Sabbath entered, “as was his 
custom,’ the synagogue for worship. While there he 
was called upon to read the lesson of the day, and the 
opportunity thus affording itself, he spoke to them of 
how this Scripture had been fulfilled in their ears. That 
is the way it generally happened. The occasion arose 
and he spoke that which he had in mind. Another good 
illustration is Mark’s account of his return to Capernaum 
after the first journey through the villages of Galilee. 
“Tt was noised that he was in the house, and many were 
gathered together, so that there was no longer room 
for them, no, not even about the door: and he spake 


™ Luke 4: 16b. 
23 





THE MESSAGE OF JESUS 





the word unto them.’ 72 Nor did he need a crowd at 
all times. Some of his greatest sayings were uttered 
in the give and take of ordinary meal time conversation. 
Much of the teaching that we have in the Gospels was. 
delivered by way of answers to people who came ask- 
ing questions, the rich young ruler, the Sadducees with 
their absurd riddle about the resurrection, the man who 
asked which was the chief commandment. 

When he taught the crowds the tone of the gathering 
was still informal and intimate. There are constant in- 
terruptions which the Teacher again and again utilizes 
for purposes of driving home his thought. A message 
comes, for example, that his mother and brethren are 
without and wish to see him;?* he uses the statement 
to impress the lesson of Christian brotherhood. On 
another occasion a paralytic is brought before him 
and he does not hesitate to turn his attention to the case 
in hand.1* Sometimes there are questions from the hear- 
ers, some of them sincere, some framed by critical Phari- 
sees for the purpose of trapping him. He does not refuse 
to answer. We have cases where the hearers make their 
own comments upon the matter that is being discussed. 
Peter seems especially talkative in meeting. Once a 
woman broke into the discourse with the ejaculation, 
“Blessed is the womb that bare thee,” 1° and Jesus turns 
her remark into the general thread of his instruction. 

In the content of what he said, this same naturalness 
and complete absence of artificiality or formality comes 
out. This is one of the greatest charms of his sayings. 
There is never the slightest indication of a striving for 


* Marks 2p t # Mark: 2: 3: 
Marke 3 rah: % Luke (1): 27. 
24 





Tue MESSAGE OF JESUS 





rhetorical effect. His language is the speech of every- 
day life, his illustrations are drawn from the commonest 
experiences of his hearers, the subject of his teaching 
is the practical problem of what normal life should be 
like. 

(2) It was popular, not logical or systematic. Jesus 
apparently never aimed at a systematic and logical presen- 
tation of his teaching. He did not speak to the crowds 
of fisherfolk and peasants in the logical manner of a 
professor lecturing a classroom. Nowhere do you find 
definitions of. terms used, premises laid down, deduc- 
tions drawn. He did not attempt to transform men by 
syllogisms. These things are the mechanics of speech; 
they are difficult to follow and almost inevitably convey 
a sense of artificiality. Certainly the deepest things of 
life are not determined by argument. That is probably 
due to two things. On the one hand, the ordinary person 
always feels that if clever enough he might find a flaw 
in the argument. There is a vague general feeling that one 
cannot believe everything that one may not be able to 
answer. But there is, I think, a deeper reason than this. 
Logic divides a subject into its parts, dissects its different 
phases and deals with them separately. Never the whole 
is before the eyes save by a synthesis of component parts. 
Analysis—with the average man at least—is not the 
method by which people are stirred to great decisions. 

Jesus’ method was fundamentally different. He ap- 
pealed to the intellect—note the controversies with the 
Pharisees in particular—but so far as our records go he 
never set himself to present his view of God and man 
and duty in a systematic theology. Instead, what he 
does is to hold up truth in its wholeness that men may 


25 





THE MESSAGE OF JESUS 





see it and feel its drawing power. In the longer dis- 
courses which are recorded he takes some principle 
of conduct, presents it now from this side, now from 
that, illustrates it by a parable, shows its application to 
life in a concrete example, returning thus ever again 
and again to the main thought with which he is dealing. 

Of this manner of teaching the Sermon on the Mount 
in Matthew is the clearest illustration. The theme is 
the nature of Christian righteousness. First it is pic- 
tured in the character of those who are truly blessed; 
then we have it set forth by way of contrast with the 
Jewish ideal; next Jesus shows what it actually means 
in practice, taking such familiar illustrations as almsgiv- 
ing, prayer, fasting, the laying up riches, and criticiz- 
ing others; there then follows a section on the complete 
trust in God which is characteristic of the righteous 
individual; and finally it is closed with parables of warn- 
ing and exhortation. This is not a logical or piecemeal 
treatment: the whole subject is constantly before the 
mind and is exemplified by various means. Several times 
one finds verses which seem to state the whole Christian 
ideal with such completeness as to seem to leave nothing 
further to be said, only to pass on to further illustrations 
and presentations. That was always Jesus’ method. He 
does not argue or contend, but holds up before his hear- 
ers the ideal of goodness and character in all its beauty 
and power. He made goodness so vivid before the eyes 
that men wanted to become good. He made God so real 
before the conscience that men hated their old manner 
of life. 

(3) It was picturesque, not literal. Many people have 
made mistakes in trying to understand Jesus because they 


26 





THe MESSAGE OF JESUS 





have failed to take this fact into consideration. Jesus was 
in the best sense of the word a popular teacher. His 
thought was picturesque, full of figures, illustrations, strik- 
ing expressions, all of which made the meaning so clear 
that even the most ignorant could understand. “I send you 
as sheep amid wolves.” “Be ye wise as serpents, and 
harmless as doves.” “I saw Satan falling as light- 
ning from heaven.’ “O, Jerusalem, Jerusalem, ... 
how often would I have gathered thy children together 
even as a hen gathereth her chickens under her wings.” 
“Ye are the salt of the earth.’ One could go on and 
on with such striking similes and metaphors. It was 
his method of speaking and teaching. 

“Without a parable spake he not unto them,” says Mark. 
And if we would understand him we must read his teach- 
ing in this light. Yet how many times Christian people 
have refused to recognize this, and instead of seeking the 
thought behind the vivid, picturesque expression or illus- 
tration have insisted on an exact obedience to the letter 
of the command. “Carry no purse, no wallet, no 
shoes,’ ?® and I saw on the street corner of a certain 
Southern city a man who goes barefoot the year round 
with the thought of obedience to this command. The 
distinctive mark of a certain religious sect is the fact 
they take literally the saying, “If I then, the Lord and 
Master, have washed your feet, ye also ought to wash one 
another’s feet.”’*7 It is easier for a camel to go through 
a needle’s eye than for a rich man to enter into the 
kingdom of God,” 78 and many of us have felt it necessary 


% Luke 10: 4. *® Mark 10: 25. 
* John 13: 14. 


27 





THE MESSAGE OF JESUS 





to adopt a quite unjustifiable translation of the Greek 
word so as to make it a small gate instead of a needle. 
“When they deliver you up, be not anxious how or what ye 
shall speak, for it shall be given you in that hour what 
ye shall speak,”*® and one finds a preacher every 
now and then who boasts that he makes no preparation. 
Thus have we been unfair to Jesus because of the 
littleness of our own minds. Jesus refused to let the 
fear of possible criticism shackle him into the exact 
language of a legal document. He taught in strong, 
fearless utterances that swept away all obstacles and won 
their way directly to the human heart. 

(4) It was clear, not hidden. This is implied in all 
that was said above. In the best sense of the word 
Jesus was a popular teacher. Crowds of ordinary people 
would stay all day listening to him, even forgetting their 
lunch in the eagerness with which they hung upon his 
words. From that fact alone we might infer that what he 
said was lucid and clear, easy to understand. The recorded 
teaching bears this out. What could be simpler or clearer 
than Jesus’ statement of the chief commandment? Or 
the summary of Christian duty which we call the Golden 
Rule? Or the parable of the Good Samaritan? 

And yet the very opposite has ofttimes been assumed. 
Many people have tried to interpret Jesus on the assump- 
tion that his utterances contain a meaning hidden to the 
average reader, which must be elicited by systems of 
symbolism and a network of Scriptural cross references. 
I have in mind, for example, an interpretation of the 
parable of the mustard seed in a pamphlet which has 


* Matthew 10: 19, 
28 


THE MESSAGE OF JESUS 


had wide circulation. The parable declares quite simply 
that the kingdom of God is like a mustard seed, which is 
the smallest of all the seeds when it is planted, but when 
it is grown up becomes a tree great enough to shelter 
the birds and to give shade to the beasts of the field. The 
interpretation referred to declares that Jesus meant by the 
field to refer to the world, within which the kingdom of 
God or the Church has grown to be a very large affair. 
Since leaves of the mustard seed are mentioned but no 
fruit, it is alleged that Christ thus prophesied that the 
Church would become worldly. And the birds and beasts 
who are sheltered by the tree then are said to represent 
the infidels and the worldly-minded who have come into 
the Church in these modern days. Thus the moral is 
drawn that the Church should return to a small state more 
like its original condition. Ingenious? Yes, indeed, but 
quite opposite to the plain meaning of the parable, the 
meaning which certainly the hearers drew from it, that 
the kingdom of God, though in its beginning a most 
insignificant movement, would expand and grow unto a 
great consummation, just as does the mustard seed. 

His teaching was natural, it was popular, it was clear. 
And if we would interpret him aright we will take the 
natural meaning of his words. Jesus came to reveal 
truth, and reveal it he did, so clearly and so naturally that 
the common people heard him gladly. Of course this 
does not mean that we will not seek to compare one 
passage with another upon a similar topic, nor seek to 
get the setting of a saying to understand its point, nor 
fail to remember the vivid and picturesque fashion in 
which Jesus spoke. These things I have tried to em- 
phasize. But it does mean that we will not conceive of 


Lo 





THE MESSAGE OF JESUS 





Jesus’ teaching as conveying one impression while actually 
having a hidden meaning that was quite different. 

As one looks back over these four characteristics which 
I have enumerated, the realization emerges that what 
Jesus actually did was to teach men and women, rather 
than any set rules or formal system of truth. He adapted 
his message to their ideas and their experiences. He 
taught in such a way that they could not forget. He 
‘taught them and trusted them to transmit that truth to 
succeeding generations. 

They have transmitted that truth in countless deeds of 
heroism and devotion. But most of all it has been trans- 
mitted to us in the Gospel records of his teaching, which 
we shall now proceed to study. 


QUESTIONS FOR DISCUSSION AND REVIEW 


1. What is meant by “The Synoptic Gospels,” and why are 
they so called? 

2. What great advantages to the Christian student are afforded 
by the overlapping of the several Gospel narratives of Jesus’ life? 

3. Read carefully the preface to Luke’s Gospel. Recalling the 
facts which are known as to the origin of Mark’s Gospel, write 
an imaginary preface for it of about the same length. 

4, Can you give any illustrations of the way in which Jesus 
framed his message primarily for his hearers, rather than for 
some future generation? 

5. In what ways do you think Sunday school teachers tadan 
could profitably imitate Jesus’ method of teaching? 

6. In the light of the characteristics of Jesus’ teaching which 
have been noted draw up three or more rules which one might 
adopt for the interpretation of his sayings. 


CHAR VERE LE 
JESUS AND THE OLD TESTAMENT 


JESUS, we hear it constantly said, was an uneducated 
teacher trained only in the school of nature and learned 
only in the character of men and women. This is not 
correct. He was educated in the whole literature of a 
people, a literature which includes history, poetry, law, 
the utterances of prophets and the epigrams of wise men. 
He was educated in the Old Testament—not formally nor 
systematically, but by the very atmosphere he breathed, 
by the home in which he lived, by the synagogue to 
which it was “his custom”? to go on the Sabbath day. 

For “The Scriptures,’ as the Jews called them, were 
more than simply a written record of the nation’s past. 
They were its law book and its ritual, and ideas and 
principles contained therein were to be found externalized 
in practice and living in the institutions of Jewish social 
life. Thus through countless channels there flowz2 in 
upon him the story and thought of the Old Testament 
Scriptures. The ideas of the people, the hopes that they 
cherished, many of the acts of daily life, the very terms 
in which they spoke, went back in a large degree to 
the Old Testament. In the home in which Jesus was 
reared and in his own meditation and thought, these 
sacred writings occupied a particularly important place. 
Hence if we would understand Jesus, the form of his 


*Luke 4: 16. 
51 





THE MESSAGE OF JESUS 


message, the content of much that he said, we must make 
our approach through the Old Testament. 

There is another reason why this subject is important. 
It will be generally agreed that the Old Testament con- 
tains the finest expression of religious sentiment outside of 
Christian thought. Jesus’ contemporaries regarded that 
book as the infallible revelation of God, which could be 
interpreted but not criticized or supplemented. One could 
teach it, but one could not go beyond it. In recent years 
a good many people have been interested in trying to 
show that this was Jesus’ position as well, and that he 
would have been aghast to have been informed that his 
teaching relegated the Old Testament to an inferior posi- 
tion. It is being said that Jesus made no new moral 
or religious contribution, but simply presented with strik- 
ing clearness and effect the best that was to be found 
in the law book of his fathers. The whole position 
which the figure of Jesus occupies in the sweep of reli- 
gious history will be measured by the accuracy of this 
view. Did Jesus simply rediscover the prophets? Did 
he only apply to slightly different circumstances the 
religion of Amos and Isaiah and the Psalmists? Did 
he never claim to go beyond the religion of the Old Testa- 
ment? How did he regard this older sacred literature? 

And then there is a third reason for our raising this 
question of Jesus and the Old Testament. It is not 
to-day an academic matter. People on all sides are 
asking, “What is the place of the Old Testament in 
modern life? Have we outgrown it? Was it infallible? 
Is it God’s word to man, or a temporary expression of 
what men once regarded as the highest they knew?” Amid 
the arguments and too frequently acrimonious debates of 


32 





THE MESSAGE OF JESUS 





the past few years it seems rarely to occur to Christian 
people to ask carefully and reverently what Jesus said 
about the Old Testament. 


I 


Nobody ever came to Jesus and asked him whether 
the Old Testament was inspired. That question never oc- 
curred to a loyal Jew. The belief in that fact was the 
one foundation of their whole scheme of life. And so 
we have no direct specific statement of Jesus which an- 
swers that question in so many words. As was said 
in the previous chapter, the teaching of Jesus is not 
couched in language especially prepared for the twentieth 
century. He taught the particular men and women who 
thronged around him, and trusted them to hand on in 
many languages and in various words the spiritual insight 
he had given them. But we do happen to have preserved 
in the Gospels a saying on another subject which shows 
conclusively his view of the Old Testament. That is the 
passage in which Jesus, in speaking of the character of the 
Messiah, quotes the opening words of Psalm 110, “The 
Lord said unto my Lord, Sit thou on my right hand, till 
I make thine enemies the footstool of thy feet.”? He 
gives this quotation with the introductory statement, 
“David said in the Holy Spirit”? This was the regular 
formula used by pious Jews of inspired literature. Such 
expressions as, “Moses said in the Holy Spirit,” “Daniel 
saw in the Holy Spirit,” etc., may be found constantly 
throughout the Jewish writings which reflect the thought 





2Mark 12: 36. 
33 


THe MESSAGE OF JESUS 





of that day. The expression passed over into Christian 
thought, and one can find it in such passages as Hebrews 
S37 and 10.1 5, 

This form of expression has more in it than appears 
at first glance. The Jews divided their Old Testament 
into three sections: the Law, which was the most sacred 
of all; the Prophets, which came next in the order of 
authority; and the Writings. This last section was the 
least venerable and the least authoritative of the three. 
Now the Psalms belong to this third section, the Writ- 
ings. The fact, therefore, that Jesus refers to the Psalms 
as having been written “in the Holy Spirit,” shows his 
attitude toward the other books of the Old Testament 
as well. 

But much more important than any formal utterance, 
we find that Jesus lived in the language and thought of 
the Old Testament, drawing much of his teaching and 
inspiration from it. A young man came running to him 
on one occasion, realizing his own poverty of life, and 
asked Jesus what he should do that he might be saved. 
We find that Jesus said to him very simply, “If thou 
wouldst enter into life, keep the commandments.”* An 
incidental reference of that sort gives us, I think, far 
more than would an explicit statement. Luke tells of a 
similar question asked by a lawyer, or scribe. In reply 
Jesus seems to have followed a frequent method of his. 
He asked him a question, “What is written in the law? 
how readest thou?” and then declared, “Do this and thou 
shalt live.” 4 

Constantly our Lord was content simply to give a verse 


> Matthew 19: 17. *Luke 10:25. 
34 





THE MESSAGE OF JESUS 





from the law or the prophets when questions of deep 
importance were addressed to him. “What is the chief 
commandment?” and he answers from Deuteronomy and 
Leviticus.2 “Will there be a resurrection of the dead?” 
and he develops his answer from the words of Exodus, 
“T am the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob.” ® “Is di- 
vorce right?” and he quotes from the story of creation, 
“Male and female created he them.’’7 He was so saturated 
with the very words of its pages that it is sometimes diffh- 
cult to tell whether he is citing a passage or merely putting 
his own thoughts in phrases that the prophets had used. 
Compare for example Matthew 23:23 with Zechariah 
7:9. Again and again he uses the words of some proph- 
ecy or psalm in sentences of his own. Note how he closes 
his lament over Jerusalem with words borrowed from 
Psalm 118, “For I say unto you, Ye shall not see me 
henceforth, till ye shall say, Blessed is he that cometh in 
the name of the Lord.” ® 

But even deeper are we carried by the evidence as to 
Jesus’ own personal dependence on the Old Testament 
for help and guidance. When the temptation came in 
three alluring forms we find him each time turning for 
his reply to words from his Bible. Luke’s dramatic story 
of the initial appearance in Nazareth is just as significant: 
“He opened the book and found the place where it was 
written, 
The spirit of the Lord is upon me, 


Because he anointed me to preach good tidings to the poor: 
He hath sent me to proclaim release to the captive, 





5 Mark 12:29. ™Mark 10: 6. 
® Mark 12: 26. ® Matthew 23:39, 


35 





THE MESSAGE OF JESUS 





And recovering of sight to the blind, 
To set at liberty them that are bruised, 
And to proclaim the acceptable year of the Lord. 


And he closed the book . . . and began to say unto them, 
To-day hath this scripture been fulfilled in your ears.” ® 
Thus he was content to say of himself and his work, “It is 
like Isaiah’s description.””’ How often in the days which 
followed must his mind have reverted to that passage! 
It must have been for him a kind of text which each 
day he was to exemplify. 

And then his teaching. The title which he chose for 
himself, ““The Son of Man,’ came from the book of 
Daniel. The description of God simply as “Our Father” 
he had found in the Scriptures (see Isaiah 63:16, and 
64:8, Exodus 4:22, Deuteronomy 32:6, Jeremiah 3:4, 
19). He came announcing a “kingdom of God,” a fact 
which is to be understood only by reading the prophets. 

In specific cases of teaching we find him repeatedly go- 
ing back to the Law or the Prophets for spiritual au- 
thority. The precedence of humanitarian service over 
all rules of ritual he found exemplified in David’s dis- 
regard of the holiness of the “shewbread” when his men 
were hungry. His teaching about marriage and divorce 
he drew from the story of creation and declared that 
because of God’s original purpose, “A man shall leave his 
father and mother, and cleave to his wife.’’?® The 
great formula, ‘““The Sabbath was made for man, and not 
man for the Sabbath,’1 seems based in meaning and 
in spirit, though not in wording, on the precepts of Exo- 


uae Ob <a a A “Mark ‘23-27. 
” Matthew 19: 5. 
36 


eT 


THE MESSAGE OF JESUS 


eS 


dus 23:12 and Deuteronomy 5:14. His rejection of the 
regal and military conception of the Messiah, which usu- 
ally was expressed as a hope for one “like David,” he 
carried back to Psalm 110, which, he declared to the 
Pharisees, proved that the Christ could not be like David.” 


i 


All this shows that for Jesus the books of the Old 
Testament were of divine origin and contained God’s 
revelation to men. But it is just as clear that Jesus did 
not read the Old Testament as all of equal worth. Por- 
tions of it he said were of value only with reference to the 
historical situation when they were given and were not 
eternally binding. Some elements good in themselves had 
to be kept subordinate to others of higher importance. 
His own sense of goodness and truth guided him in an 
interpretation of what he read and he insisted on cer- 
tain precepts as fundamental, subordinated others, even 
rejected some, according to the standard of his inner 
judgment. 

This is what he constantly does in the case of Sab- 
bath observance—the point of repeated controversy with 
the scribes. In the books of Genesis, Exodus, and Leviti- 
cus are absolute categorical commands: ““The seventh day 


shall be to you a holy day; . . . whosoever doeth any work 
thereon shall be put to death.”1* On the Seventh day is 
a Sabbath of solemn rest, . . . ye shall do no manner of 


work.” 14 “Ye shall kindle no fire throughout your habi- 
tations on the Sabbath Day.” #® Such laws make no dis- 
Soi penn Hine MI nO UeL MoAb ny utycl a a oie eh 


™Mark 12: 36f. # Leviticus. 2323. 
%Exodus 35:2. 4% Exodus 35: 3. 


3/7 





THE MESSAGE OF JESUS 





tinction beween work for one motive and work for another. 
Healing is as much forbidden as harvesting—as the Phari- 
sees repeatedly insisted. Plucking grain on the Sabbath 
Day and husking it in one’s hands violated the principle of 
the Sabbath Day just as much as reaping on a larger 
scale. If the law be God’s revelation, then this popular 
teacher, they said, who heals people on the Sabbath and 
whose disciples violate the law in other ways, is desecrat- 
ing the Sabbath and holding up before the people an ex- 
ample of disobedience. 

Now Jesus read with reverence the same passages, but 
he did not read them mechanically. He read with a deep 
sense of their moral purpose and of the value of the 
Sabbath institution. He remembered that in two lists of 
the Ten Commandments the purpose of the Sabbath is 
explained to be the humanitarian desire “that thy man- 
servant and thy maidservant may rest as well as thou, 
and thou shalt remember that thou wast a servant in 
the land of Egypt.”*® And he allowed no statement of 
Sabbath duties, whether in the law or out of it, to contra- 
dict this fundamental purpose of making the Sabbath 
serve human need. The law declared, ‘““Whosoever doeth 
any work thereon shall be put to death,” but he went 
back of such legal expression and challenged his oppo- 
nents with the question, “Is it lawful on the Sabbath Day 
to do good or to do harm, to save life or to kill?” 17 
With unerring clearness he laid hold of the permanent and 
creative element which was in the Scriptures. Thus, 
without hesitation and in spite of numerous citations 


* Deuteronomy 5:14 and 15; compare Exodus 20:10 and 11. 
Mark 3:1. 


38 





THE MESSAGE OF JESUS 





which could easily be made, he declared, “The Sabbath 
was made for man, and not man for the Sabbath.” 

Even a better illustration of this selection is to be found 
in the case of the Jewish ceremonial law. There is no 
doubt that Jesus appreciated most fully the historic ritual 
of Israel. He never stripped worship barren of all symbol. 
He realized the need for expression of that which is felt 
deeply. We have in the words of Jesus no polemics 
against the law as such, like those which we find in Paul’s 
writings. Paul talks about being “under the law” as an 
experience which choked and killed his finer self. But 
Jesus never felt himself “under the law.” It was always 
to him an expression of the sacred religion of the patri- 
archs and prophets. He went up to the temple, we find 
him at the appointed feasts, and his last hours were closely 
associated with the Passover. He enjoined the leper whom 
he had cleansed to show himself to the priest and to offer 
the appropriate sacrifices.1* He said in the Sermon on 
the Mount that one who had been first reconciled with 
his brother should then come back and offer his gift.® 
He was deeply moved over the commercialization of the 
temple sacrifices and drove out the money-changers with 
a whip of cords. But he never forgot that all these things 
were but the expression of religion, not religion itself. 
These ceremonial laws must give way before moral com- 
mands. He read Leviticus and Exodus in the light of 
Hosea’s utterance, “For I desire mercy, and not sacri- 
fice; and the knowledge of God more than burnt offer- 
ings.” 2° 


*% Mark 1: 44. * Hosea 6:6. 
*® Matthew 5: 24. 


39 





THE MESSAGE OF JESUS 


Now all this seems clear and easy for us to-day; but to 
assert that the ceremonial was of only secondary and 
incidental importance involved what was, for the Phari- 
sees, an impossible and outrageous presumption. Jesus 
declared that nothing that went into a man made him 
unclean, and in that one statement they clearly recognized 
that he swept away a great portion of the ceremonial 
law. The Jews thought that if such things as contact 
with Gentiles, eating certain foods, etc., were prohibited 
or commanded by law, it followed that the observance of 
these precepts was necessary for salvation. If men ate 
with defiled hands, they were sinners, no matter what 
splendid lives of service might be alleged for them. Judg- 
ment, mercy, etc., are fine things, but they are general 
and indefinite. Washing of hands is a specific, definite 
thing and is commanded by the law of God. Such specific 
and definite commands must be obeyed regardless of all 
general considerations to the contrary. 

In this conflict over the washing of hands we see one 
of the crises of Jesus’ life.24. It is a story of a conflict 
between two views of the Scriptures—the narrow, me- 
chanical view of the Pharisees and Jesus’ deep sense of 
God, pervading and underlying and uniting the different 
portions of the text. Matters had come to a crisis, the 
issue was clear-cut, and Jesus hesitated not for one mo- 
ment. These ceremonial observances did not actually 
make one unclean or clean. “Hear me all of you, and 
understand: there is nothing from without the man, that 
going into him can defile him: but the things which pro- 
ceed out of the man are those that defile the man.” That 


™ Mark 7: 1-23. 
40 





Tue MESSAGE OF JESUS 


statement was epoch-making. By it Jesus declared whole 
portions of the Law to be valuable only with reference 
to the spiritual reality which they illustrated and no longer 
binding in the letter. But it is very significant that even 
here Jesus turned to a passage in Isaiah which he felt 
summed up what he was saying, “This people honoreth 
me with their lips, but their heart is far from me.” ” 

A third illustration may be taken from Jesus’ teaching 
on divorce. Apparently the Pharisees had an intimation 
as to what Jesus thought about marriage, so they planned 
their trap.22 “Moses said for the husband to give her a 
bill of divorce and put her away,” they pointed out. And 
in Deuteronomy 24:1-7 stands the law to which they 
referred. Nevertheless, Jesus held to his position. The 
precept was present in the law, but this law was given 
relative to the conditions of that age, “For the hardness of 
your heart. Moses wrote you this commandment.” But 
the eternal relations of man and woman are revealed in the 
story of creation which Genesis tells, “In the beginning, 
male and female created he them.” 

The Old Testament also had much to say about a 
Messiah of military character and a kingdom of political 
grandeur. But though Jesus regarded the Old Testa- 
ment as inspired he remained simply unaffected by these 
passages. In the kingdom of which he spoke one finds no 
hint of such conceptions as Ezekiel’s valley full of the dry 
bones of Israel’s enemies, nor of Jerusalem becoming “a 
cup of reeling unto all the peoples round about her’ 
nor of a Messiah who shall “break (the nations) with a 





“Tsaiah 29: 13. *% Zechariah 12:2. 
7 Mark 10: 1-12. 


41 





THE MESSAGE OF JESUS 





rod of iron and dash them in pieces like a potter’s ves- 
sel.” 2° But there are other passages of the Old Testa- 
ment on which Jesus did found his mission: the passage 
from Isaiah which he read in the synagogue of Nazareth; 
the phrase “Son of Man,” which became his title; the cry 
of Zechariah, “Rejoice, O Jerusalem: behold, thy king 
cometh unto thee meek, and riding upon an ass.” *® 
Probably even more present to his mind than these 
were the great passages of Isaiah 49, 52, and 53 
which sing of a suffering Servant of Jehovah, who was 
despised and rejected of men, a man of sorrows and ac- 
quainted with grief, wounded for our transgressions and 
bruised for our iniquities. In these descriptions he found 
his own lot most truly pictured and the end of his own 
career foreshadowed. All the sayings of a king glorious 
before his enemies and surrounded by his court he put 
aside, and went to his death saying to his own intimate 
disciples, no doubt with these passages from Isaiah in his 
mind, “The Son of Man goeth even as it is written of 
Hime 

Thus we see that Jesus not only accepted the state- 
ment but lived in the assurance that the Old Testament 
was an inspired revelation of God to men. But he did 
not regard that revelation as requiring mechanical obedi- 
ence to the letter nor as all of the same value. Certain 
portions had to be supplemented by others, some were 
given in an earlier day and were adapted to the hardness 
of men’s hearts. One needed to get back of the letter 
to the spirit of the whole. He regarded his own message 
as but the unfolding and development of ideas which the 


* Psalms 2:9. 
* Zechariah 9:9. See Matthew 21:5. 7 Mark 14:21. 


42 





THE MESSAGE OF JESUS 





Old Testament had expressed. “I came not to destroy 
the law; but to fulfill it.’ He found on its pages mes- 
sages of God and of life which were of eternal validity. 
“Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart” ; 
“Like as a father pitieth his children, so the Lord pitieth 
them that fear him.”; “The Lord is my shepherd; I shall 
not want”; “Put away the evil of your doings from be- 
fore mine eyes”; “Seek judgment, relieve the oppressed, 
judge the fatherless, plead for the widow.” With these 
and numberless other precepts before his mind, no wonder 
Jesus was willing to say to the young man, “Thou know- 
est the commandments; do these and thou shalt live.” 
But always it was obedience to the spirit which comes to 
fullest expression in passages like those just given. 

And this leads us to the greatest of all Jesus’ sayings 
about the Old Testament, sayings in which he brought 
to clear expression this obedience of the spirit. There 
are two of these which through the centuries have stood 
as the great charter of a religion of the spirit rather than 
of obedience to the letter. The first is the Sermon on 
the Mount: ‘All things therefore whatsoever ye would 
that men should do unto you, even so do ye also unto 
them: for this is the law and the prophets.” ?* Christians 
have come to call this saying the Golden Rule, and to think 
of it almost apart from the rest of the Bible. We must 
not forget that it is primarily a saying on the Old Testa- 
ment. And then the other—a verse which stands at the 
very center of the Christian religion—“Thou shalt love 
the Lord thy God with all thy heart . . . and thy neigh- 
bor as thyself: on these two commandments hangeth 





* Matthew 7: 12. 
43 


yo 
ty 

ait 
if) 
an 


THE MESSAGE OF JESUS 


the whole law and the prophets.” °° These sayings call 
for no comment. They enunciate the principle which 
Jesus found expressing itself through the pages of the 
Old Testament. 

And so for us to-day, the message of the Old Testa- 
ment seen through the discerning eyes of Jesus can never 
be superseded. A marvelous thing was accomplished in 
Israel—a body of literature voicing the cry of human 
hearts to God and answering with a message of his 
fatherly, chastening, and patient love, a literature which 
shakes the citadels of the selfish conscience with fearful 
demands for personal and social justice, and which leads 
the humble but quaking spirit into green pastures beside 
still waters. Yet we needed Jesus to show us how to 
read it. To him it. was not a series of precepts and 
messages all on the same plane of value. It could not 
be read as a mechanical revelation. It must be read with 
eyes of understanding. One must see certain of its 
truths so clearly that they become tools by which the re- 
mainder may be examined and rejected, or interpreted 
anew. It was Jesus’ work to restate and develop and 
make clearer and stronger this eternal element which 
he found in the law and the prophets. 


SUGGESTIONS FOR DISCUSSION AND REVIEW 


1. Give illustrations of how Jewish life in Jesus’ day would 
inculcate the story and teaching of the Old Testament. 

2. Give at least two quotations from Jesus’ teaching which 
show his conception of the incompleteness of the Old Testament 
revelation. Give at least two which show his sense of its unique 
moral and religious value. 


*® Matthew 22: 37-40. 
44 





THE MESSAGE OF JESUS 





3. State the difference between the teaching of Jesus and that 
of the Old Testament in regard to the observance of the Sab- 
bath. In regard to divorce. In regard to unclean foods. 

4. Read carefully the passage ‘Matthew 5:17-48. In the light 
of this passage what do you think Jesus meant when he said, 
“T came not to destroy the law or the prophets ... but to 
fulfill ?” 

5. What was the attitude of the Jews of Jesus’ day toward 
the Old Testament? After answering this question read Mark 
3:1-6. To what extent do you suppose the difference between 
them in this respect was ultimately responsible for Jesus’ death? 

6. Do you think there is more danger to-day of people over- 
valuing the Old Testament, or undervaluing it? In what prac- 
tical ways do you think teachers and preachers could help bring 
about a greater appreciation of its contents and message? 


45 





CHAPTER, Til 
JESUS’ TEACHING ABOUT GOD 


Jesus taught primarily a certain religious view of life. 
The ethical and the moral elements flow directly from the 
religious teaching. The more we study the records the 
clearer this becomes. Everything he did and said springs 
from a religious basis, his sense of God’s presence and 
God’s character. When he taught that men should love 
their enemies he gave as his reason that God was like that.t 
If they asked him about divorce, he replied, “Male and fe- 
male created he them,” and tried to show God’s purpose 
in the creation of sex life.2 When he speaks of the re- 
ward of goodness, it is in terms of “seeing God,” of 
being “sons of God,” of being clothed and fed by God. 
Mark gives us the right clue to this teaching when he 
says at the very beginning of his work that Jesus came 
into Galilee preaching the “good news of God.’ ® 


I 


Yet it was not a new set of theological ideas that 
Jesus brought. The God of whom he speaks had in main 
outline been revealed by the writers of the Old Testa- 
ment. He was, as Jesus described him in the quotation, 
“The God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob.”* Of course 
there were expressions in the Old Testament that Jesus 


*Matthew 5: 45. > Mark 1:14. 
* Mark 10:6. *Matthew 22: 32. 


46 





THe MESSAGE OF JESUS 





would not have used, and there is a new unity, a new 
emphasis, and a clearer vision in Jesus’ thought of God; 
but nevertheless the revelation of the Old Testament lies 
as the basis of his teaching. 

Only, Jesus took this Old Testament view seriously. 
He lived it. The reality and constant presence of God 
became the basis of his life. Therefore, when he spoke 
of God, what he said was real. He did not repeat theo- 
logical maxims, but spoke from the fullness of his own 
life. And in the crucible of his own experience the tra- 
ditional Jewish view of God was refined. The cruder 
elements and terms he spiritualized; that which was tem- 
porary and imperfect he eliminated; those views which 
appeared contradictory he frequently brought into a new 
synthesis. And so there emerges in the teaching of Jesus 
a revelation of God which in its entirety and its unity 
is a new thing, though the general outline may be traced 
back to the Old Testament. 

That Jesus took God seriously is the reason why he said 
nothing which even approaches a proof of his existence. 
You do not attempt to prove that which is most real to 
you. For one who lives as Jesus did in constant fellow- 
ship with God, a proof that he exists is almost impossible. 
If God’s love and care be the postulate by which we order 
our lives, how can we by a clever arrangement of words 
add anything to the certainty that he is present? Jesus’ 
certainty of God was far beyond the stage of argument. 

I said he was the God of the Old Testament. The at- 
tributes of Jehovah most emphasized in the Old Testa- 
ment were his uniqueness, his majesty above all that is 
finite or limited, his irresistible power, his creative ac- 
tivity, and his righteous will. 


47 


TuHeE MESSAGE OF JESUS 


“OQ give thanks unto the Lord, for he is good: ... 
To him that by understanding made the heavens . 
That spread forth the earth above the waters... 
The sun to rule by day... 

The moon and the stars to rule by night. 


95 


“Fear ye not me? saith the Lord: will ye not tremble at 
my presence, which hath placed the sand for the bound of 
the sea?’ ® “Can any hide himself in secret places that 
I shall not see him? saith the Lord. Do not I fill heaven 
and earth?’ * Such passages are typical of the thought 
of the Old Testament. Jesus’ sayings indicate the same 
picture. ‘The Lord our God, the Lord is one,” said Jesus, 
citing the daily Jewish confession of faith. He was God, 
the Creator—“Male and female created he them,” ® “From 
the beginning of creation which God created.’ +° Yet it is 
only by culling the pages with care that one can find say- 
ings which refer to such subjects as these. Jesus said 
practically nothing about God’s metaphysical attributes, 
or the history of creation. He kept constantly before 
him the real problems which men and women had to face. 
Abstract speculations never pulled him aside from vital 
reality. We shall have occasion to note this characteristic 
of Jesus repeatedly as we proceed. . 

But in the actual concrete world Jesus saw God every- 
where. He had imagination; or, rather, I should say, 
eyes to see. He walked at home in a universe which a 
Heavenly Father had fashioned for his children. Con- 
sider the lilies dotting the fields with color and bordering 


®°Psalms 136: 1-9. § Mark 12:29. 
*Jeremiah 5: 22. °Mark 10:6. 
* Jeremiah 23: 24. ® Mark 13: 19. 


48 





THE MESSAGE OF JESUS 





the dusty road in their purity—their garments came from 
the hands of God! The birds that never sow nor reap 
nor gather into barns are nourished by the daily care of 
God. In the natural processes of the heavens he saw 
God’s constant activity. He makes each sun to shine. 
The fresh rain is his gift to good and bad alike. Jesus 
never relegated God’s activity simply to one long past 
divine act of creation. There is a significant phrase in 
the gospel, “From the beginning of creation,’ * in which 
this thought of God’s constant activity is clearly brought 
out. Jesus gave thanks to his Father at the beginning of 
each meal.!2 He told his disciples to pray, “Give us this 
day our daily bread.” ** He saw in all those natural 
processes which we call physical laws simply the direct 
expression of God’s active will. 

Two things we need especially to notice about this view 
of Jesus. In the first place, nothing is so small or so 
insignificant as to escape God’s attention and care. He 
knows when each small sparrow falls to the ground and 
ends its little chapter of life. He sees to it that the 
birds are fed and the lilies clothed. He is like a shep- 
herd who is aware of the absence of even one sheep from 
the flock.14 Or like a woman who sweeps the whole house 
to recover a coin that has been lost.t® Even the processes 
of each person’s growth lie in God’s thought—‘Which 
of you by being anxious can add one cubit unto his stat- 





4 Found twice: Mark 10:6 and 13:19, and in Matthew. 
™ Mark 6:41, 8:7 and 14: 22. 

® Matthew 6:11. 

“Luke 15: 4f. 

* Luke 15: 8f. 


49 


THE MESSAGE OF JESUS 





ure?’ 16 And, more amazing still, in God’s omniscience 
even the hairs of our heads are numbered! 17 

In the second place, notice that God does all this di- 
rectly. The history of religions has always shown a 
tendency to remove God from direct contact with men 
and things and to believe in intermediaries, angels or 
spirits. This is due not only to the thought of God’s 
holiness and exaltation, but also to the reluctance on the 
part of weak and sinful men to feel themselves directly in 
the presence of the Almighty. Hence the archangels, the 
patron saints, the prayers to the Virgin, all doctrines of 
mediators and intercessors. No justification for such be- 
liefs can be found in the teaching of Jesus. For him 
the elaborate angelology of Judaism is purely conven- 
tional. “Pray to thy Father in secret, and thy Father 
which seeth in secret shall reward thee openly.” ‘Shall 
he not much more clothe you, O ye of little faith?” 
With such words Jesus eliminated all semi-divine agencies 
from the path and lifted mankind up into the light of 
God’s own face. 

But in some hands all this might be turned into a weak 
sentimentality. We are all familiar with the type of 
literature that delights to speak of a “divine indwelling 
force’ in all natural processes. God becomes a term 
chiefly useful in the expression of esthetic sentiment. 
Jesus never let the word become a tool of emotional ex- 
pression. He was trained in the Hebrew Scriptures and 
the God of those Scriptures is one before whom every 
man must be fearful. Isaiah had proclaimed “a day of 
the Lord . . . when the loftiness of man shall be bowed 


* Matthew 6: 27. 7 Matthew 10: 30. 
50 





THE MESSAGE OF JESUS 





down, and the haughtiness of men shall be brought low 

. when men shall go into the caves of the rocks, and 
into the holes of the earth, from before the terror of the 
Lord, and from the glory of his majesty, when he ariseth 
to shake mightily the earth.” ** That passage is typical of 
the prophets, and that side of God’s nature is never lost 
from Jesus’ thought. He is “the Lord of Heaven and 
earth,” even in the address of prayer.’® He holds all things 
in his hands. ‘All things are possible with thee,” we find 
Jesus repeatedly saying.2° There are legions of angels 
ready to do his bidding.2t His majesty must not be 
taken lightly. “I will warn you whom you shall fear. 
Fear him who after he hath killed has the power to cast 
into Gehenna. Yea, I say unto you, Fear him.” ?? The 
whole earth is but “the footstool of his feet.” ** Jerusalem 
is “the city of the great King.” ?? The expanse of heaven 
is “the throne of God.” ** He is omniscient. He knows 
men’s hearts and the events of the future.” 

Closely associated with this characteristically Old Tes- 
tament emphasis on the power of God is the thought of 
his holiness. This element Judaism had greatly empha- 
sized, giving to the word “holiness” a meaning which had 
some unfortunate consequences; but to that holiness of 
moral perfection which it was the great work of the proph- 
ets to declare, Jesus held fast. ‘Ye shall be perfect,” he 
enjoined his disciples, “as your heavenly Father is per- 


* Isaiah 2:'12-19. 2 Luke 12: 5. 
” Matthew 11: 25. *® Matthew 5: 35. 
Mark 14:36; 10:27. 4 Matthew 23: 22. 


*™ Matthew 26: 53. 
* Matthew 6:18; 6:32; 7:2, etc.; 24: 36. 


51 





THE MESSAGE OF JESUS 





fect.” °° The prayer, “Hallowed be thy name,” has the 
same ultimate meaning. But even clearer than these was 
Jesus’ refusal to have the adjective good applied even to his 
own person. “Why callest thou me good?” he replied to 
the wealthy ruler ; “none is good save one, that is, God.” ?" 
Nothing could make plainer Jesus’ sense of the unap- 
proachable transcendence of God above all that is finite 
and human. 


II 


Before that unapproachable power anda holiness Eze- 
kiel is said in his prophecies always to have fallen upon 
his face,?8 and Isaiah had cried out in his vision, ““Woe 
is me, for I am undone!” ?® Jesus realizes just as fully 
the overwhelming majesty and holiness of God, and there 
flowed from this consciousness an element of reverence 
and worship which we must never forget. “My Father 
is greater than I,” we read in the Fourth Gospel, but 
this thought runs all through the Synoptic story as well. 
It lies back of the whole worship life of Jesus, the lonely 
vigils on the mountain side, the prayers for strength and 
support, the complete confidence in God for strength and 
help. But no such feeling of God’s unapproachableness 
as we see in Ezekiel and Isaiah exhibits itself in Jesus’ 
thought. For he realized more strongly than did they 
another side of God’s nature. Not only was he above all 
human limitations and removed from stain and sin, but 
his goodness consisted in an infinite activity of love. 
Jesus combined in closest unity that which was primary 


* Matthew 5:48. * Ezekiel 1:28; 3:23, etc. 
7 Mark 10: 18. *TIsaiah 6: 1-5. 


52 





THE MESSAGE OF JESUS 





with the prophets and that which was the special contri- 
bution of the Psalms. “The Lord is my shepherd; I 
shall not want.” “Like as a father pitieth his children, 
so the Lord pitieth them that fear him.’ “The Lord is 
full of compassion and gracious, slow to anger, and plente- 
ous in mercy.” ‘This is the other side of God’s character. 
It is one of the great characteristics of Jesus that he was 
able in the breadth of his own spiritual nature to bring 
together through the experience of his own life that 
union of opposite sides of truth which lesser personalities 
cannot achieve. We have tended in the history of Chris- 
tian thought now to one side of this teaching of Jesus, 
now to the other. We have learned by long experience 
that neither can be neglected, but we are not generally 
great enough not to lose one feature in our appreciation 
of the other. 

God’s goodness ‘is active love. In some religions the 
divine being has been portrayed as content and satisfied, 
engaged only in self-contemplation. There are some 
splendid pieces of religious literature which develop the 
thought that God is absolutely passive. He wants nothing. 
He needs nothing. His activity is concerned only with 
that which is perfect. Jesus said that God cares. He 
cares for men and women, each of whom is invaluable 
in his eyes. How obvious that should be! For God cares 
even for poor sparrows, and “ye are of more value than 
many sparrows.” °° Indeed, in God’s sight man is of more 
value than even the most sacred institution in the world, 
the Sabbath Day, for “the Sabbath was made for man, 
and not man for the Sabbath.” ** Furthermore, this love 





* Matthew 10: 31. * Mark 2: 2/. 
at 





THE MESSAGE OF JESUS 





is not merely abstract and general, a sort of divine humani- 
tarianism. God loves each individual. He is like the 
shepherd who knows each time that a sheep gets out of the 
fold and is ready to go into the night to bring him back.*? 
He is like the woman who will not let the coin stay lost, 
even though she may have others. “Even so it is not the 
will of your Father in heaven that one of these little 
ones should perish.” ** Each individual has a unique and 
personal value in God’s sight, a value because he is just 
that person and not another. Herein was one of the 
great contributions that Jesus made to the religious and 
moral thought of the world. It lies at the bottom of 
every revolutionary movement on behalf of human rights. 
It contains in germ all of our modern ideas about the 
supreme value of personality. Society has always tended 
to neglect the outcast and the enslaved and to feel that 
consequences to them do not matter in comparison with 
the interests of the accepted classes. Privileged groups 
have, for example, doubted whether the black man has 
a soul. The great slums of our cities contain just so 
many “hands,” and industry need take no further account 
of them. But if Jesus’ view be right, God carries the 
burden of each of these persons individually in his divine 
love. As Immanuel Kant said, you can’t think of people 
any longer as means to an end, they are all ends in 
themselves. They are such for God. Nor can we simply 
think in terms of masses or classes. In this phase of 
Jesus’ teaching has lain the dynamic of all Christian efforts 
toward social change. It is because he kept saying this 
and living it out that Jesus was not a “safe” man to the 


*™ Luke 15: 1-7. % Matthew 18:14. 
54 





THE MESSAGE OF JESUS 





ruling classes. He was “dangerous,” and they thought it 
best to put him out of the way. And his followers who 
have really caught his spirit have ever been “dangerous” to 
those who were willing to take personal profit out of the 
life blood of men and women. 

Realizing so clearly this side of God’s character, Jesus 
did not fall down in fear at the thought of God as had 
many of the prophets. Instead, he called him “Father.” 
This term had of course been applied to God long before 
Jesus used it. (See Isaiah 64:8; Malachi 1:6, 2:10, 
etc.) But it had never been central in the Old Testament 
conception of God, the primary thought there being that 
of Israel’s King. Jesus took the term and made it his 
address of intimate approach. The prayer in Geth- 
semane is “Abba, Father, ... remove this cup from 
me.” #4 Luke records the sayings from the cross, “Father, 
forgive them; for they know not what they do,” and 
“Father, into thy hands I commit my spirit.” ** In the 
great thanksgiving passage it is, “I thank thee, Father, that 
thou... didst reveal these things unto babes.” * 
When his disciples asked him to teach them how to pray, 
he told them always to begin, “Our Father, who art in 
heaven.” We are to forgive, “that your Father in heaven 
may forgive you your trespasses.” *7 

One result of this loving character of God is his readi- 
ness to bestow his blessings freely. We must rid our 
minds of the idea that God withholds certain gifts which 
we may induce him to bestow. He is ready to give even 
before we ask—that is Jesus’ thought. It is his delight 





“Mark 14: 36. % Matthew 11:25. 
®Tuke 23:34 and 23: 46, * Mark 11:25. 


55 





THE MESSAGE OF JESUS 





to give. By many a parable and many a figure Jesus 
drove home this thought. “If ye, being evil, know how 
to give good gifts ... how much more shall your Father 
in heaven give good things to them that ask him?” * 
Ask, and it shall be given you; seek, and ye shall find; 
knock, and it shall be opened unto you.” *® Instead of 
having to earn the blessings of God, they may be had for 
the mere asking! “Fear not, little flock; for it is your 
Father’s good pleasure to give you the kingdom.” *° No- 
tice the tone of that statement, “your Father’s good pleas- 
ure.’ Hence why should men be fretted and fearful 
because of simple needs like food and apparel? “Your 
heavenly Father knoweth that ye have need of all these 
things.” 4 

The parable of the workers in the vineyard, all of 
whom are given the same wage, is a good illustration of 
how Jesus taught this lesson. To those who had labored 
for only one hour the lord of the vineyard bestowed out 
of his gracious nature the reward of a full day’s service. 
And when the other workmen protest, the landlord of the 
story replies, “Is it not lawful for me to do what I will 
with mine own? Is thine eye evil (or niggardly) because 
I am good?” *? God is like that. He does not give on 
the basis of merit, but from the overflowing goodness of 
his divine grace. 

Jesus taught with special emphasis a second charac- 
teristic of this loving character of God. His good will 
extends even to those who are opposed to his rule and 


*® Matthew 7: 11. “Matthew 6: 32. 
® Matthew 7:7. “Matthew 20:15. 
“Luke 12: 32. 


56 


SN ae 


Tue MEsSsAGE oF JESUS 


_ EE 


refuse his fellowship. Matthew 5:44, 45 is one of the 
central passages in the Gospels. “I say unto you, Love 
your enemies, and pray for them that persecute you ; that 
ye may be the sons of your Father which is in heaven; 
for he maketh his sun to rise on the evil and the good, 
and sendeth rain on the just and the unjust.” 

It follows obviously from this last that a readiness to 
forgive is characteristic of him. The father who loves 
his wayward son will not close his door when the prodigal 
appears repentant upon the threshold. God is like that 
father, said Jesus—a father who ran out to greet his 
son and whose only reproof was the best robe in the 
house and a feast of rejoicing. “There is more joy in 
heaven over one sinner that repents than over ninety- 
nine righteous persons who need no repentance.” ** The 
publican who cried, “God be merciful to me a sinner,” went 
down to his house justified, not because of any list of 
righteous deeds, but simply through his penitent cry.“ 
And that Jesus thought of God’s willingness to forgive 
as inexhaustible is shown by his injunction to Peter to 
forgive seventy times seven times; for forgiveness in 
the case of men is but imitation of God. 

It is against the background of this belief in God which 
has been described that we must view the deep con- 
fidence and joy which marked the life of Jesus. He met 
one disappointment after another. The people listened 
to him gladly and hailed him as a prophet, but no mass 
movement of repentance followed from his work. The 
religious leaders who ought to have been first to leap to 
his aid hardened themselves into a vindictive opposition. 


—, 


®T uke 15:7. “Luke 18:10 f. 
57 





THE MESSAGE OF JESUS 


Herod began watching him with suspicion, and from 
Roman officials he could expect at best only a hard cyni- 
cism. Yet never once did he lose confidence. “Blessed 
are those who are persecuted for righteousness’ sake.” 
Every earthly sign to the contrary, “the meek .. . shall 
inherit the earth.” He taught his disciples to pray ex- 
pecting an answer, “Thy will be done on earth as in 
heaven.” He saw in his own and the disciples’ work, 
“Satan fallen as lightning from Heaven” * and signs that 
the kingdom of God had begun to dawn.** To Jerusalem, 
standing in all her pride and cruelty, he declared at the 
close of his life, “Behold, your house is left unto you 
desolate.” #7 And, even though death in its most cruel 
form stood facing him, he declared to his followers that 
his very death would be a ransom for many,** and that they 
who had remained with him should judge the twelve tribes 
of Israel.*® 

Back of all this is Jesus’ belief in God. To the one 
who penetrates to Jesus’ understanding of the heart of 
the universe, there comes a great restfulness and confi- 
dence that nothing can shake. If God be the “Lord of 
heaven and earth,’ with whom “all things are possible,” 
then truly blessed are the meek, the peacemakers, the 
pure in heart, those persecuted for righteousness’ sake. 
With such assurance, why be afraid? And on the other 
hand, joy! If God be like the father of the prodigal 
son, constantly ready to forget the sins of the past, if 
with loving care he knows the things we really need and 


“Luke 10: 18. * Mark 10: 45. 
“Matthew 12:28. * Matthew 19: 28. 
“Matthew 23: 38. 


58 


es 


Tue MESSAGE OF JESUS 


LL 


it is his good pleasure to bestow of his bounty, if his 
love is for every individual as that person and no other, 
then no wonder Jesus declared, “When ye fast . . . be 
not .. . of sad countenance, but anoint thy head and wash 
thy face’; *° for all worship has become a joy and all 
service a devotion. When Paul writes his outbursts of 
Christian joy, “For ye received not the spirit of bondage 
unto fear; but the Spirit of adoption, by which we cry, 
Abba, Father!” ®t or again, the one in Philippians, “Re- 
joice in the Lord alway; again I say unto you, Rejoice,” © 
he is following in this joyous belief in God which Jesus 
gave. 


Il 


But Jesus’ thought of God was not an easy optimism. 
There is a stern side to God’s character which Jesus 
presented with as much insistence as he did the thought 
of love.and mercy. I have heard somewhere recently that 
Jesus described God as a father, but that we moderns 
wish to make him an indulgent grandfather. The witti- 
cism contains a serious truth. Responsible father- 
hood is never merely indulgent. The character of 
God is not one of easy tolerance. In the divine 
sight, said Jesus, good and bad stand out in radical and 
eternal opposition. With him there is none of that mini- 
mizing of evil, that toleration of wrong which we show 
so constantly. Evil is really and eternally evil with God. 
I do not mean to say that Jesus did not teach that there 
are different degrees of responsibility for sins com- 





° Matthew 6: 16-17. Philippians 4: 4. 
Romans 8: 15. 


59 





THE MESSAGE OF JESUS 





mitted, and that God takes into account all those factors 
of environment, etc., which enter into and are largely 
responsible for the lives we live. There is a significant 
saying in Luke, “That servant who knew his lord’s will, 
and made not ready, nor did according to his will, shall 
be beaten with many stripes; but he that knew not... 
shall be beaten with few stripes.” ®* But at the same time 
the sharpness of the distinction between good arid evil was 
never dulled in Jesus’ portrayal of God’s character. God 
is primarily a being of righteous will who will not com- 
promise with sin and iniquity. Before him we shall have 
to give answer at the final day. Our obligations to God 
are more pressing than duty to Cesar or any other earthly 
power before which men stand in awe.®* “Not every one 
that saith unto me, Lord, Lord, shall enter into the king- 
dom of heaven; but he that doeth the will of my Father 
which is in heaven.” ®> The man who deliberately sets 
himself against that divine will, who knows the right but 
spurns it, who refuses the divine forgiveness and fellow- 
ship, for that individual Jesus preaches—just as uncom- 
promisingly as had the ancient prophets of Israel—the 
certainty of punishment. “Every one that heareth my 
words, and doeth them not, shall be likened unto a foolish 
man, who built his house upon the sand.” ®* The scribes 
who devour widows’ houses and ‘“‘make long prayers for a 
pretense” shall receive “greater condemnation.” *’ There 
are two ways, one leading to life, the other to destruction.*® 
There are many who choose this latter path, and Jesus 


Ke. Lene *® Matthew 7: 26. 
4 Matthew 22: 21. Mark 12: 40. 
® Matthew 7:21. S Matthew 7:13. 


Peace a rrr omenrae en GrTaTTl AAPA AERIAL eTORRORTENE PDL nT MIPTLRT ID LR 
Tue MESSAGE OF JESUS 
eS 


never flinched from the prophetic judgment that all such 
could expect no divine compassion to rescue them from 
their own wills. There must be occasions of stumbling, 
“but woe to that man through whom the occasion 
cometh.” °° “Be not afraid of them that kill the body. 
_. . But I will warn you whom ye shall fear: Fear him 
which after he hath killed hath power to cast into hell; yea, 
I say unto you, Fear him.”®° “Ye offspring of vipers, 
how shall ye escape the judgment of hell?” ** It is true 
that the picture of this future punishment is presented 
more severely in the Gospel of Matthew than it is in 
either Mark or Luke, but it is futile to try to read out of 
Jesus’ mind the thought of God as a Judge who condemns 
moral evil unsparingly and forever removes it from his 
presence. The God of Jesus is a God of uncompromis- 
ing righteousness, and we miss the strength of Jesus if 
we try to interpret him as in any way seeing a future 
truce with evil or the admission of it to his kingdom. 

But we must not close on this note. Beside the wrath 
of God there stands always that divine love which Jesus 
saw and taught so clearly. It follows logically from this 
teaching that God desires in turn the love of his children. 
This is the implication of practically all that Jesus taught. 
One cannot begin to understand God, Jesus taught, without 
erasping this fundamental thought. It is this which is 
presented with such perfect grace in the parables of the 
shepherd seeking his lost sheep, and the woman who 
sweeps her house for the coin. But we do not need to 
seek for implications or interpret parables. Jesus was 
PERRY ERENT Pe es he gah a 

° Matthew 18:7. * Matthew 23: 33. | 

Luke 12: 4. 

61 





THE MESSAGE OF JESUS 


once asked the direct question, “What is the chief com- 
mandment ?—1. e., What is the primary thing that God de- 
sires of men? And his answer came without hesitation, 
“Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, 
and with all thy soul, and with all thy strength, and with 
all thy mind.” ®? The God of Jesus is one who seeks 
that more than any formal worship or obedience. 

Thus Jesus taught that love lies at the heart of the uni- 
verse, and if we will only see it, the deepest love pulsates 
through the world; that God calls men into fellowship 
with and likeness to himself, so that the divine life may 
become ever more realized in the world; that the divine 
blessings are freely given to men not on their deserts but 
because of God’s nature, but that the results of continued 
moral refusal are inexorable. The rest of this small book 
will be but the elaboration of this revelation of God and 
the consequences for the life of man which Jesus drew 
from it. 


QUESTIONS FOR DISCUSSION AND REVIEW 


1. Read the account in Luke of the preaching of John the 
Baptist. (Luke 3:7-17.) What aspect of God’s.character did 
John most emphasize? Compare his teaching in this respect with 
that of Jesus’. 

2. “Jesus had the most joyous idea of God that was ever 
thought of.” (T. R. Glover.) What is the basis for a statement 
like this? 

3. Do you think that the famous phrase, “Sinners in the 
hands of an angry God,” correctly represents Jesus’ teaching 
as to the divine character? 

4. Show how love for and service to our fellow men is de- 
manded by an acceptance of Jesus’ view of God. 





®@ Mark 12: 30. 
62 





Tue MESSAGE OF JESUS 





5. What lessons as to the character of God did Jesus draw 
from the world of nature? 

6. In the light of Jesus’ statement that God knows the things 
we have need of and is ready to bestow them, what should be 
the primary purpose of prayer? 


63 


CHAPTER IV 
THE KINGDOM OF GOD 


Jesus began his work, says Mark, by going through 
Galilee preaching, “The kingdom of God is at hand. 
Repent and believe in the good news.” Quite evidently 
he preached a good deal more than just those phrases, 
but this is the way Mark sums it up. If we take the 
teaching that we have preserved for us, we can verify 
Mark’s statement. It is constantly related to God’s “king- 
dom.” The parables begin, “The kingdom of God is 
like .. .” The Beatitudes are spoken of people who are 
of such character that “theirs is the kingdom of God.” 
The true aim of life is that men should “seek first the 
kingdom of God and its righteousness.’’ And just as his 
ministry began, so it ended—his last saying to the dis- 
ciples before he led them out into the garden being a 
confident reference to this same kingdom of God. 

Why this unusual phrase? It is surprising to find Jesus 
speaking so constantly about a kingdom. He despised 
arbitrary authority and all the trappings and cheap pomp 
that belonged to the local courts. He said on one occa- 
sion, “They who are accounted to rule over the Gen- 
tiles lord it over them; and their great ones exercise 
authority over them. But it is not so among you.” ? 
The regal robes of Solomon were not so beautiful as one 
perfect lily.* ‘The Kingdoms of this world and the glory 


*‘Matthew 26:29; Mark 14:25. 3 Matthew 6: 29. 
Mark 10: 42. 


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THe MESSAGE OF JESUS 





of them” * he had once for all put behind him and had 
chosen instead poverty and obscurity. Why, then, does 
he speak so much about a “kingdom’’? 

The answer is in the fact that there was no break be- 
tween Jesus and the religious revelation which his people 
had given to the world. He was bred in the Old Testa- 
ment Scriptures. For him no other foundation could be 
laid than that which was laid by the prophets and the 
law. In the forms of his thought he made no fresh start, 
but built upon the ideas and the ideals that were Israel’s 
contribution to the world. His hearers found no diffi- 
culty in acclaiming him a “Son of David” or “one of the 
prophets.” And this sacred tradition of the fathers had 
talked about a kingdom that was to come. 

We might say the same thing in another way. Jesus 
was not interested in giving abstract truth. He taught 
men—and women. Furthermore he spoke to the particular 
men and women who were before him, not to those of 
some century to come after. He must have been a 
marvelous teacher, for the crowds would stay all day 
listening to him. It is only what we should expect, then, 
to find that he put his message in terms that were clear 
to them and full of meaning. This phrase, “the kingdom 
of God,’ summed up to their minds their deepest social 
and religious yearnings. And so he spoke of that, chang- 
ing as he spoke the content of much that they had in 
mind. 

I 


_ The conception goes back to the idea that was fun- 
damental in all Hebrew religion, that God was Israel’s 


*Matthew 4: 8-10. 
65 


ooo 
THE MESSAGE OF JESUS 





ruler and king. This was true from the earliest days of 
the Judges. When Gideon was offered a crown, he re- 
plied, “I will not rule over you, neither shall my son 
rule over you, the Lord shall rule over you.’*® The 
laws of Moses were held authoritative only because they 
were accepted as the divine commands. At the begin- 
ning of the monarchy we see the same thought reflected. 
When Saul was made king, Jehovah said to Samuel, the 
prophet, “They have not rejected thee, but they have re- 
jected me, that I should not be king over them.” ® The 
final downfall of the monarchy in both Israel and Judah 
and the captivity into which the people were led enabled 
prophets and scribes to enforce the lesson. God alone 
must be king! An Ahab or a Manasseh who did not 
rule in accordance with his divine will had no claim to 
the obedience or faithfulness of the nation. Obedience 
to God and to him only must be the rule of Israel’s life. 

Many of the Psalms were composed after the return 
from exile, and they preserve for us the daily piety of 
the people. This thought of the kingship of Jehovah 
over Israel is one that finds repeated expression in them. 
Psalm 145 is a good example: 

“T will extol thee my God, O King; 
And I will bless thy name forever. . 


All thy works shall give thanks unto thee, 
And thy saints shall bless thee.” * 


Israel had no earthly king. The hand of Babylon and, 
in turn, of Persia lay heavy on the land. It is therefore 
easy to understand how natural patriotism united with 


* Judges 8: 23. "Psalm 145:1f. 
°I Samuel 8: 7. 
66 i 


Ess Enel 
THE MESSAGE OF JESUS 





vital piety to push this ancient thought that “God is our 
King” into the forefront of the Jewish confession. 

But was God King over Israel alone? Of course not. 
He was king over all the earth, only no nation save Israel 
would confess him. The Psalms rise into magnificent 
stanzas when they speak of the power and majesty of 
their God: 


“God is the King of all the earth,... 
God reigneth over the nations.”—Psalm 47:7, 8. 


“The Lord is a great God 
And a great King above all gods.’—Psalm 95: 3. 


“The Lord hath established his throne in the heavens 
And his kingdom ruleth over ail.’—Psalm 103: 19. 


“Thy throne, O God, is forever and ever: 
And a sceptre of equity is the sceptre of thy kingdom.”— 
Psalm 45: 6. 


These are typical passages. The ideas which they convey 
were part of the spiritual atmosphere in which Jesus was 
reared. 

But this rule of God, though universal, was recognized 
by only one people and not even adequately by them. Was 
that all that could be said on the subject? Was there no 
further word? Every one of the great prophets of Israel 
was convinced that there was more to say. Some day in 
the future God would establish the kingdom which was 
his, and make that which already was implicit actual and 
visible over all the earth. The heathen rage and the 
wicked prosper. But a day will come when “the lofty 
looks of man shall be brought low, and the haughtiness 
of men shall be bowed down: and the Lord alone shall 


67 





THE MESSAGE OF JESUS 





be exalted in that day.’ * God reigns now in part, but 
in that day he shall reign completely. Zechariah puts the 
thought in the specific terms with which we have been deal- 
ing: “Behold, a day of the Lord cometh. ... For I will 
gather all nations against Jerusalem to battle... . Then 
shall the Lord go forth, and fight against those nations. 
. . . And the Lord shall be King over all the earth: in 
that day shall the Lord be one, and his name one.” ® In 
similar words Obadiah prophesied the destruction of Is- 
rael’s enemies. “For the day of the Lord is near upon 
all the nations: as thou hast done, it shall be done untto 
thee; thy dealing shall return upon thine own head... . 
And the kingdom shall be the Lord’s.’’ 1° Or note again 
a quotation from the prayer book of the people: 


“The Lord Most High is terrible; 
He is a great King over all the earth. 
He shall subdue the peoples under us, 
And the nations under our feet. 
Sing praises to God, sing praises. 
For God is the King over all the earth: 
Sing ye praises with understanding.” 
Psalm 47:2, 3, 6-8. 


Now the discerning reader will have already observed 
in these quotations that there had been entwined into 
this belief in God’s complete sovereignty in the future the 
additional thought that this “day of the Lord” would be 
a time of reward for Israel and punishment of her ene- 
mies. That was an easy inference to make. Many a 
rough and ready Jew, burning with indignation at the 





*“Tsarah 2 #11412, * Obadiah verses 15 and 21. 
® Zechariah 14: 1-9, 


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THE MESSAGE OF JESUS 





century-long oppression of his nation, no doubt saw in 
this thought of God’s complete Kingship only the element 
of national revenge. This was an interpretation that 
Jesus had to face when he. later spoke about God’s king- 
dom. We know that even among the temptations that 
came to him personally there was the lure of the “king- 
doms of the earth.’ 11 But those large visioned prophets, 
Isaiah, Jeremiah, Ezekiel, and others, never wavered in 
their announcement that much evil and disobedience had 
to be uprooted from Israel as well as from other coun- 
tries, and that only a purified remnant of their nation 
would remain after the chastening that was in store. 
Yet with the same assurance with which the great prophets 
foretold punishment and chastening, they declared that 
God’s complete rule would mean for the righteous rem- 
nant a time of fullest blessing. “God will come as a 
mighty one . . . whose reward is with him and his recom- 
pense before him. And he shall feed his flock like a shep- 
herd, and he shall gather the lambs in his arms and carry 
them in his bosom, and he shall gently lead those that give 
suck.” 12 More explicit, though not more beautiful nor 
expressive, is the passage in Ezekiel where spiritual and 
material blessings are both described: “For I will take you 
from among the nations, and gather you out of all coun- 
tries, and bring you into your own land. ... Anda new 
heart also will I give you, and a new spirit will I put 
into you./ And I will put my spirit within you, and 
cause you to walk in my statutes, and ye shall keep my 
judgments, and do them. . . . And I will save you from 
your uncleannesses : and I will call for the corn, and mul- 





4 Matthew 4:8. ® Teniah 40210; 11) 
69 


THE MESSAGE OF JESUS 


tiply it, and will lay no famine upon you. And I will 
multiply the fruit of the tree, and the increase of the 
field.” 4° Or take the beautiful passage in Isaiah: “And 
the wolf shall dwell with the lamb, and the leopard lie down 
with the kid; and the calf and the young lion together ; and 
a little child shall lead them. . . . And the sucking child 
shall play on the hole of the asp, and the weaned child 
shall put his hand on the adder’s den. They shall not 
hurt nor destroy in all my holy domain: for the earth 
shall be full of the knowledge of the Lord, as the waters 
cover the sea.” 14 

These are the simple but essential ideas which the great 
religious genius of the Hebrew people expressed in its 
thought of the kingdom of God that was to come. God 
is King, but his kingship is acknowledged by only a right- 
eous few. These, like Abraham, the type of all Jewish 
piety, make him ruler of their lives, but the great majority 
of mankind have either spurned him or given his law a 
superficial service. But God will not bear with evil al- 
ways. His power will be revealed and his rule estab- 
lished. God rules, and he shall rule—that is the gist of it. 
It is truly Jewish and truly religious. And that complete 
establishment of the will of God “o’er every high tower 
and every fenced city” will bring, of course, judgment to 
all things wicked, and to those who have done his will 
righteousness, joy, and peace. 

To this basic thought, hammered out in Hebrew souls 
during years of exile and persecution, the process of 
living added in time certain elements and filled out 


* Ezekiel 36: 24-30. “Tsaiah 11: 6-9. 
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THE MESSAGE OF JESUS 





various details. It never changed, however, the essential 
thought. The most important of these developments was 
in connection with the question of the lot of those saints 
and martyrs who died before the coming of the kingdom. 
Would they not share in the glories of that complete rule 
of God? Were its blessings only for those who happened 
to be alive at the hour of its manifestation? Assuredly 
not. God would bring them back to share in that for 
which they had endured. In Daniel this faith comes to 
clear expression: ‘““And many of them that sleep in the 
dust of the earth shall awake, some to everlasting life 
and some to shame and everlasting contempt. And they 
that be wise shall shine as the brightness of the firmament, 
and they that turn many to righteousness as the stars for 
ever and ever.” +5 The resurrection of the patriarchs and 
the fathers, the community of the righteous of all ages, 
the destruction of every wicked thing and the enjoyment 
of God and his blessings—all this was contained in that 
kingdom of the future for which devout Jews prayed. 
This meant, of course, that its coming will be a super- 
natural event, but how else could be ushered in an age in 
which God’s perfect law will be obeyed in every particular 
and all sin and suffering destroyed? 

Would the kingdom be on this earth, transformed into 
a new creation, as Paul suggests,’® or in heaven? When 
will be the hour of its coming? Will not the evil forces 
in the world make one last final struggle before they bow 
to the overwhelming power of the divine appearing? Ex- 
actly what will happen to the Gentiles in that day? Will 
God himself establish this kingdom or will he do so 





* Daniel 12:2, 3. 7 Romans 8: 19-22. 
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THE MESSAGE OF JESUS 


through an intermediary? On these and other details 
there are many and diverse answers given by Jews who 
wrote in the two-hundred-year interval between the Old 
and the New Testaments. There is no agreement. Some- 
times we find the divine rule called “The Kingdom of 
God” as in Mark and Luke, sometimes “The Kingdom 
of Heaven” as in Matthew. But no matter how they filled 
in the details of the picture, every devout Jew affirmed 
this double belief: that God is King, both over nature 
and over men, and yet at the same time, to use the words 
of a book probably written in Jesus’ lifetime, 


“His kingdom shall appear throughout all creation: 
Then Satan shall be no more, 
And all sorrow shall depart with him. 


917 


I have gone at some length into this Jewish thought of 
God’s Kingship, since without it we are likely to find our- 
selves in much confusion when we turn to Jesus’ teach- 
ing on the subject. 


II 


We can see now why Jesus spoke about a “kingdom 
of God” as he went through Galilee preaching his good 
news. He did so for several reasons. 

In the first place, the whole train of ideas which is sug- 
gested was familiar to those who heard him. It summed 
up the highest elements in their faith, and Jesus began 
where they were. He was a marvelous teacher, and he 
took this theme which they were ever ready to hear dis- 
cussed, this dream of a new age when God would reward 
the righteous and subdue their enemies, and talked about 


* Assumption of Moses 10: 1. 


72 


Tue MESSAGE OF JESUS 


it. He might change the idea, indeed we have already 
seen how he did transform the “King” into a loving 
Father in heaven. But nevertheless he spoke of that 
which was familiar. 

Then in the next place, this theme of the kingdom was 
no new catchword or popular fad. It carried men back 
to the preaching of the ancient prophets and called to 
mind stanzas from psalms that were sung in the temples 
of their fathers. By addressing himself to this theme 
Jesus associated his teaching with the message of those 
great spiritual geniuses of the past. Even the multitude 
recognized this continuity, for some said that he was Elijah 
and others “one of the prophets.”’?* Jesus thus set himself 
the task of bringing to fulfillment the inner meaning and 
value of that which those great writers had given. For 
long Israel had dreamed of the coming kingdom of God. 
Jesus did not come preaching novelties, but he took as his 
theme the simple, basic thought in the religion of Israel. 
As Matthew says in connection with the Law, “He came 
not to destroy, but to fulfill.” 

In the third place, Jesus used the phrase because it ex- 
pressed certain fundamental religious conceptions that 
he regarded as essential. It is the height of art to be able 
to sum up an ideal in a phrase. “The war to end 
war,” “Remember the Alamo,” “Liberty or death’”—such 
phrases say more than many paragraphs could express. 
So also in the case of which we are speaking. ‘‘The king- 
dom of God” had a definite cantent of meaning and it 
conveyed this meaning more effectively than many hours 
of teaching might have done. 


*% Mark 8: 28. 
1a 


THE MESSAGE OF JESUS 


It meant to every Jew the claim of God to absolute 
authority over life. The kingdom is God’s; he is ruler, 
he is the absolute sovereign, his law must be the stand- 
ard of life. Such allegiance to Jehovah was the basis 
of the religion of Israel. From the early days of the 
desert the sons of the twelve tribes had made this con- 
fession. On no other basis would Jesus proceed. God 
is our King and his law must be the primary concern 
of our lives. 

It meant the longing for and belief in a better day. 
It recalled to mind the promises of the prophets that, in 
spite of all signs to the contrary, blessedness and glory 
would yet be given to men. It expressed an eternal 
discontent with careless, sinful, enslaved Israel. It pic- 
tured the ideal to the eyes of men. Jesus always set 
himself to stimulate that divine discontent with the im- 
perfect present. The ideal Israel, the perfect earth—it 
was that which he called to mind when he spoke of the 
kingdom of God. And that vision even when imper- 
fect, that hope even when misguided, made men ready 
for Jesus’ message of the will of God and the way of 
life. 

It meant, in the third place, trust in God and in him 
only. For over six hundred years idolatrous and sinful 
nations, one after another, had held the Jewish people 
in bondage to their power. From the beginning of the 
Exile the captives had dreamed of reviving the fallen 
glories of the house of David and had made desperate 
attempts to overthrow their oppressors at moments that 
seemed opportune. But one pagan power had only given 
way to another. Assyria, Babylon, Persia, Egypt, Syria, 
Rome—they had seized the sovereignty, ruled imperi- 


74 





THE MESSAGE OF JESUS 





ously, crumbled by inner decay and given place one by 
one to a successor as strong and as pagan as themselves. 
No wonder the Jews had come to despair of their own 
strength. “Not by might, nor by power, but by my Spirit, 
saith the Lord.” 29 The centuries had taught them the 
lesson no longer to “trust in horse and rider and bow,” 
nor “multiply gold and silver for war.” *° To God alone 
could they look, in him only was their strength. They 
had become convinced that the blessedness of the future 
must be established, if at all, by the intervention of God 
in the affairs of men. Only then would the domination 
of the heathen be broken. The rule of righteousness 
would yet be established, but it would be when God was 
ready to make visible and external that Kingship which 
was his. And so even when things were darkest there 
was still hope, a hope that expressed itself in prayer. 
They were driven back on God. Only by their faith in 
God had Israel survived the long ordeal of national sub- 
jection. Of course there was always the war party in 
Palestine, but the argument of even that party ran that 
Israel must merely make the first stroke. They, too, 
admitted that their hope was only in Jehovah. Thus the 
“kingdom of god” turned men’s thoughts back to God 
as the hope for a new age. It made all their dreams and 
visions rest upon a foundation of religion. 

It meant—and this is a thought that has run through 
much of the above—that man’s highest bliss would be 
identical with man’s most perfect obedience to God. The 
prophets had said this over and over until it had passed 
into the thinking of the nation. The kingdom of God 





” Zechariah 4: 6. 20 Psalms of Solomon 17: 3, 5. 
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THE MESSAGE OF JESUS 





would be an age both of complete obedience and of com- 
plete blessedness. These two are inseparable. When we 
remember this it becomes clear to us how it was that 
Jesus was able to speak of the kingdom both as a reward, 
as in certain of the Beatitudes, and as involving a duty— 
“Seek ye first his kingdom and his righteousness.’ *+ 
Only, as we shall see, Jesus insisted on that perfect obedi- 
ence as obligatory here and now. 

And finally, it meant that there could be no complete 
and perfect righteousness, no accepting the real kingship 
of God over one’s life, apart from association with other 
righteous individuals. There is no ideal goodness for 
one individual off to himself. The very word “kingdom” 
is a social concept—. e., a group of people having a com- 
mon allegiance. It was a legacy to Judaism from the 
days of the nation’s early life, when they tended to think 
in terms primarily of the nation and of individuals only 
as units in that group. Jesus was the greatest exponent 
of the rights and privileges of the individual, but he took 
over from the thought life of his people this great truth 
of the social life. The perfect rule of God is not over 
a series of unrelated individuals, but over a fellowship. 
Jesus speaks of “entering into the Kingdom,” having 
quite evidently in mind this association with other mem- 
bers. There are “few who enter,” but only in comparison 
with the many who remain without. Once he put the 
matter very clearly. “There is no man,’ he said, “that 
has left house, or brethren, or sisters, or mother, or 
father, . . . for my sake, and the gospel’s, but he shall 
receive an hundredfold now in this time, houses, and 


2 Matthew 6: 33. 
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THE MESSAGE OF JESUS 





brethren, and sisters, and mothers, and children, and 
lands, with persecutions.” 2 And on another occasion 
he made clear this thought of fellowship when he looked 
around and said, “Who is my mother and my brethren? 
. . . Whosoever shall do the will of God, the same is 
my brother, and sister, and mother.” ** Jesus did not 
have to give directions for the formation of a Church. 
It grew naturally out of his whole conception of the 
kingdom of God. 

Before passing to the questions which follow, questions 
on which there has been considerable difference of 
opinion, let us see if we can bring together what has 
been said. The idea of the kingdom of God goes back 
to the earliest roots of the Hebrew national and re- 
ligious life. Jesus used it because it was clear to his 
hearers and awoke in their hearts their highest aspirations. 
He used it further because it summed up the great domi- 
nant conceptions which God had been revealing through 
Israel. The kingdom of God means, fundamentally, 
God’s kingship, but it is generally used in the Gospels 
from the human standpoint—1. e., from the standpoint of 
the individuals who compose God’s kingdom. So used, 
we might define it thus: a group of individuals bound 
together by a common allegiance, who do God’s will 
perfectly and on whom God pours forth his richest 
blessings. Note that we have not yet raised the ques- 
tion of where and when this group exists. That remains 
for the following chapter. We might put the definition 
in much simpler terms yet—the kingdom is God’s family, 
those who do his will and receive his richest blessings. 





™ Mark 10:29, 30. *% Mark 3: 33-35. 
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THE MESSAGE OF JESUS 





So stated, we see already the fundamentally religious 
nature of Jesus’ message. It was not simply good ad- 
vice or sound ethics. Its aim was to lift men up into 
life on a different level, to make life a daily fellowship 
with God. Behind that conception we can see shining 
through Jesus’ view of God the loving heavenly Father, 
one ‘‘who calleth his sheep by name.” But at the same 
time we have implicit in this kingdom of God that stern 
moral demand, the rigorous heroic element, that we must 
never lose sight of in Jesus’ teaching. For since it was 
to be life on a new plane, there must be a complete break 
with the old habits and standards. 

And so when Jesus appeared in Galilee preaching 
“that the kingdom of God is at hand,” it is not sur- 
prising that he stirred the masses to eager attention, A 
new prophet had appeared who declared that God was 
ready to establish his reign. No longer need men wonder 
at the divine delay, no longer cry, “How long, O Lord, 
how long?” That was the “good news” from the stand- 
point of the multitude. But to show, as Jesus had to 
show, that men were not ready for that complete rule 
of God, that many of those who talked most about it 
were really unwilling that God should rule, and to make 
clear what was involved in the kingship of God—this 
was a long and a heart-breaking task. 


TOPICS AND QUESTIONS FOR DISCUSSION 
AND REVIEW 


1. Discuss the fact that Jesus designed his teaching for the 
particular men and women of his day from the standpoint of 
(a) its vividness, (b) its interpretation, (c) its permanent value. 


78 





THe MESSAGE OF JESUS 





2. Give the origin and meaning of the Hebrew doctrine of 
God as King. Over whom was he King? 

3. In what sense was God’s kingship a thing of the future? 
What changes would be brought about by that future kingship? 

4. What elements~ of permanent religious value were con- 
tained in this thought of the kingdom of God? 

5. What dangers of misunderstanding and distortion would 
such a conception offer? 


79 


CHAPTER V 
THE COMING OF THE KINGDOM 


In the last chapter we saw that when Jesus spoke of 
“the kingdom of God” he was referring to God’s perfect 
rule over men, a kingdom constituted by men and women 
who obey God’s will entirely and receive his fullest 
blessings. This far everyone agrees. But when we pro- 
ceed to ask when and where such a kingdom is to be found, 
we raise a question to which various and vehement answers 
have been given by different Christian groups. 

It might be said that in a study of this kind such 
problems had best be left alone. The ordinary Christian 
is not interested in theological controversies. When doc- 
tors and divines debate, the layman had best be off. 
There is a widespread opinion—with much truth in it— 
that arguments in theology result in nothing except bruised 
heads and neglected flocks. 

Nevertheless, this subject is of such importance for 
an understanding of Jesus’ message that we cannot refuse 
to face the question. The kingdom, as has several times 
been said, sums up the whole of what he taught. For 
membership in it we must strive, its coming must be one 
of the petitions of our daily prayer, to gain admission to 
it is the highest reward. If we would understand Jesus, 
then, we must ask, “Where and when is this kingdom 
of which so much is said?” even if the question does 
require some hard thinking and careful study. 

But by our controversies we have really exaggerated the 


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Tue MEssaGE oF JESUS 





difficulty. Jesus spoke in terms suited for his own age 
and adapted to his hearers. We have taken his words 
and often have seized upon an interpretation which suited 
us, with little or no effort to get back to the meanings 
which the words conveyed at that time. Furthermore, 
many of us have been guilty of deciding beforehand what 
message we feel is needed for the present age, and have 
then extorted that message from the text. Instead, we 
should sit humbly at his feet like Mary of old to caltch 
the glory of his own thought and his own meaning. Jesus 
deserves the right to speak his own message. Sometimes 
we have made our study more difficult by playing hop- 
skip-and-jump all over the New Testament, quoting this 
verse from Revelation, that from the Epistles, perhaps a 
prophecy from the Old Testament, and trying to interpret 
Jesus by all these together taken out of their contexts. 
If we will keep insisting on getting back to Jesus, all 
of us, and studying his thought, I suspect that many of 
our difficulties will vanish. — 

And that leads to a third remark. We must always 
practice the law of love and charity even with people who 
differ from us. St. Paul wrote to the Christians at 
Corinth, “Let all that you do be done in love” + and surely 
that attitude should especially mark every sincere attempt 
to discover religious truth. Religion goes so deep with 
us, it touches so much that is vital, that one can readily 
understand how religious differences are acutely felt. 
Yet what a travesty it is for Christian people discussing 
with each other the life of Jesus, the very mention of 
whose name should fill the heart with the spirit of love, 





*1 Corinthians 16: 14. 
$l 





THE MESSAGE OF JESUS 





to find in it a subject for acrimonious debate! “Let all 
that you do be done in love.”’ 

With these preliminary remarks we turn now to the 
question proposed. 


I 


One view which has had a great deal of attention 
recently maintains that when Jesus spoke of the kingdom 
of God he referred only to a future supernatural state of 
affairs. The kingdom is something which will come all 
at once. It is supernatural in every respect. Its appear- 
ance ends this present age, which in this connection is 
usually thought of as ineradicably evil. Those who hold 
this view point to the many passages in the Gospels which 
speak of the kingdom as coming on the clouds of heaven, 
as unexpected as a thief in the night, and sudden as a 
flash of lightning across the heavens. They call attention 
to the exhortations to watch and be ready and to parables 
carrying the same moral, like that of the wise and foolish 
virgins. These sayings are in our Gospels and cannot 
be read out of them. Their importance is undeniable, and 
we will return to that set of passages toward the close 
of this chapter. But the view that we are considering 
usually goes further and declares that because Jesus spoke 
of the kingdom or a phase of the kingdom as in the 
future, therefore it can in no way be a reality in this 
present world, and that Jesus never represented it as such. 
When he urged men to enter the kingdom, he meant, 
it is maintained, only that supernatural state of the future 
for which it is our present duty to prepare. When he 
taught his disciples to pray “Thy kingdom come,” it was 
a prayer for the end of the world and the beginning of a 


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new age, and for only that. Sometimes this view is 
found joined with another thought, that of a thousand- 
year millennium here on this earth, but this is not an 
element that affects the essential idea. 

This view makes the teaching of Jesus concerned 
primarily with an event of the distant future. It takes 
the emphasis in his teaching away from the problems 
of living now and places that emphasis and concern upon 
the coming of a glorious kingdom at the end of the 
world. It would have us fix our thought on that future 
manifestation and live with an eye ever single to that 
glorious hour. It points to St. Paul’s advice to his 
Corinthian members not to assume cares and responsi- 
bilities because “the fashion of this world passeth away.” ? 
It rejoices in the promise and dwells upon the vision of 
the celestial city. Quite obviously it is an interpretation 
that demands respect. 

Beside the particular passages in the Gospels to which 
reference has been made—those of the kingdom coming 
“like a thief in the night,” like “the lightning,” etc.—this 
view bases itself upon several considerations : 

(1) The kingdom is God’s rule over a group of 
people who obey him perfectly and receive his complete 
blessings. Now neither of these characteristics, it is 
claimed, is possible in this world. First as to the blessings : 
We live amid woes and tumults. Only with the eye of 
faith can we discern the reward. The saints, having borne 
witness even by the martyr’s death, received not here 
the recompense. The kingdom which contains the reward 
is obviously a future blessing not yet revealed. 


21 Corinthians 7: 3] 
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(2) So also as to a perfect obedience. We live in a 
world to the very core of which sin has penetrated. Those 
who are in the world are necessarily of the world. It is 
only by separation from it that complete obedience to God’s 
will can be achieved. The habits of life which society 
forces upon us contain a taint. We are reminded that we 
must come out of the world in order to be an “elect race, 
a royal priesthood, a holy nation.” * I have in mind the 
decision of a good Methodist woman in a certain city 
who for religious reasons moved out on a ranch and taught 
her children herself in order to remove them from the 
public schools and the common activities which city life 
makes necessary. For sin to be completely banished, it 
is claimed, separation from the world must be complete. 
The kingdom cannot be realized in this world. 

(3) Furthermore, the world is bad and is doomed 
to destruction. There are in it no saving forces. It is 
beyond remedy. Life here is only a testing, a school, from 
which the righteous hope for release.. This world is under 
the control of the forces of evil, the next age will show 
the rule of God. 

Those who are familiar with the history of the Jewish 
people will recognize that the view of the kingdom which 
we have been discussing is not a new one. It is very old. 
Indeed, it antedates the coming of Christ and the rise 
of the Church. It is pre-Christian. It is the view which 
many Jewish writers who lived in the period between the 
Old and New Testaments found to be the only source of 
consolation which they could give to their people. The 
oppressions of many centuries seemed destined to continue. 





°1 Peter’2:9, 
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The national freedom of which they dreamed seemed 
no nearer. The heathen lorded it over the righteous. 
Through trials and disasters, by hope cast down and faith 
disappointed, they had come to despair of this world. 
It was evil, totally and irrevocably, given over to the 
domination of evil. There was a kingdom hidden by 
God from the foundation of the world which he would 
some day give to the righteous, but it was in the future. 
No gleam of its presence could be discerned in the events 
and processes of their day. God would reign, but it 
would be only by a divine tour de force, which simply 
substitutes a new world for this evil thing. Over and 
over again one reads these thoughts in a series of books 
written by pious Jews in the general period 175 B.C.- 
125 A.D. which have been given the general name of 
apocalyptic books, because they purport. to reveal the 
secrets of that last great day. These books are numerous 
and are now well known. They were without doubt read 
by the people who listened to Jesus. Their picture of 
the kingdom is not consistent as to details, but the general 
view presented above runs through them all. If this is 
all that Jesus had to say as to the kingdom, he presented 
nothing new. It may be found worked out far more 
completely and more logically in some book like the 
Apocalypse of Baruch or the Book of Enoch than in the 
Gospels. 


II 
Much in the view just stated is of unquestioned 


truth and value. It represents noble aspirations, and has 


“Apocalypse is the Greek word for “revelation.” 


85 





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been held by many devout Christians. But it simply isn’t 
all of Jesus’ view. It takes part of Jesus’ thought as 
if it were the whole. It leaves out part of the evidence. 

Jesus, it seems to me, clearly conceived of that kingdom 
of God as something already existing on this earth and 
urged men to enter at once into its fellowship and its obli- 
gations. He conceived of that kingdom as something 
essentially in the heart of men, although it soon becomes 
felt in outward conditions. He said that this kingdom 
was not at the outset great and conspicuous, but beginning 
small would grow with time. He declared that God was 
ready to give it here and now if men would only realize 
their privilege and accept the gift. But let us turn to 
Jesus’ own words for evidence as to what he taught: 

(1) “And he said, How shall we liken the kingdom of 
God? or in what parable shall we set it forth? It is like 
a grain of mustard seed, which, when it is sown upon 
the earth, though it be less than all the seeds that are 
upon the earth, yet when it is sown groweth up, and 
becometh greater than all the herbs, and putteth out great 
branches ; so that the birds of the heaven can lodge under 
the shadow thereof.” (Mark 4:30 f.) It is clear from 
this passage alone that the kingdom of God is not some- 
thing that comes all at once. It begins small, it grows. 
Its coming is not simply one great event at the end of 
time. It exists in part, in germ, long before it is full 
grown. 

(2) “So is the kingdom of God as if a man should 
cast seed upon the earth . . . and the seed should spring 
up and grow, he knoweth not how .. . first the blade, 
then the ear, then the full corn in the ear.” (Mark 
4:26f.) This parable again is clear. No picture could 


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bring out more clearly the process of growth and develop- 
ment which, says Jesus, is characteristic of the kingdom. 
“But when the fruit is ripe, straightway he putteth forth 
the sickle, because the harvest is come.” 

(3) “Another parable spake he unto them; The king- 
dom of heaven is like unto leaven which a woman took 
and hid in three measures of meal, till it was all leavened.” 
biMathmocoasLukej 134210) 

(4) These three parables all carry the same point. 
After the first two, which are preserved side by side in 
the Gospel of Mark, the evangelist makes this striking 
comment: “And with many such parables spake he the 
word unto them.” We are thus expressly told that there 
were many parables of the kind, only two of which are 
preserved as examples by Mark. By his phrase “such 
parables” Mark no doubt had in mind primarily their form, 
yet the fact that all those which he records in his chapter of 
parables*® have to do with growing seed and a large 
harvest from a small beginning makes one feel safe in 
saying that these must be given full and due weight as 
representing many others of the same type. 

(5) Some scribes came to Jesus who were not content 
with parables. They wanted something more explicit. 
“And being asked by the Pharisees when the kingdom 
of God cometh, he... said, The kingdom of God 
cometh not with observation: neither shall they say, Lo 
here! or, there! for lo, the kingdom of God is within you.” 
(Luke 17:20.) Unless one refuse to accept this verse as 
from Jesus, we must stop picturing the kingdom as solely 
on the clouds of heaven. That is exactly what Jesus told 





5° Mark, chapter 4. 
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THE MESSAGE OF JESUS 


the Pharisees they must not do. And if the kingdom be 
first of all an affair within, an obedience of the heart to the 
will of God, then it is quite obviously something that does 
not await the destruction of the earth or a revelation from 
the heavens for its beginning.® 

(6) In Matthew 12:28 and Luke 11:20 there is 
recorded another explicit statement. Jesus was accused 
by his opponents of having done a good work (casting out 
a demon) in the name of or by the power of Satan. In 
reply he pointed out how such a work as that which had 
been done was a binding and limiting of Satan and his 
power. And he then went on to say in essence that just 
such destruction of Satan’s power was the mark of that 
kingdom of God which had been so long expected. “If I 
by the spirit of God cast out devils, then is the kingdom 
of God come upon you.” In other words, putting it quite 
simply, in Christ’s work of blessing and release the 
kingdom began. 

(7) In Matthew 11:12 and Luke 16: 16 is still another 
explicit saying, this time in connection with some sayings 
about John the Baptist. It is a saying not easy to 
interpret because of the different forms of statement in 
the two Gospels. Matthew reads: “From the days of 
John until now the kingdom of heaven suffereth violence 


° This passage requires an additional note. The Greek words 
which are translated “within you” are somewhat ambiguous. 
They may mean “among you” and some scholars have so trans- 
lated this verse. (See margin to Revised Version.) But in 
either case the meaning for our purpose is the same. If the 
kingdom be “among you,” it is just as truly already in existence 
as if we follow the usual translation. The Pharisees were re- 
buked for waiting in suspense and excitement when the kingdom 
had already begun. 


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a 


and men of violence take it by force.” Luke’s wording is, 
“The law and the prophets were until John; from that 
time the gospel of the kingdom of God is preached and 
every man entereth violently into it.” But in both Gospels 
one fact is clearly affirmed, that from the days of John 
the kingdom was in actual existence and men were entering 
into its membership. 

(8) A good illustration of the last point will serve to 
close this list. When the scribe declared that to love 
God with all thy heart and thy neighbor as thy self is 
“more than all burnt offerings and sacrifice,” 7 Jesus turned 
and said to him, “Thou art not far from the kingdom of 
God.” Surely we must not force these words to refer to 
entrance into an apocalyptic kingdom at some distant 
future time. Is not this saying an example of that con- 
stant invitation which Jesus held out to all who would 
heed to enter then and there into the membership of 
God’s kingdom on earth? 

So much for particular passages. _ Let us supplement 
these by two general considerations. 

In the first place Jesus was not a pessimist. He did 
not regard this world as hopelessly bad, doomed to destruc- 
tion. He did not believe that there were in it no regenera- 
tive forces. He saw God in it everywhere, active and 
effective for good. It was here that he differed from 
the people who wrote the apocalyptic books. They hoped 
for another age in which God could show himself. Jesus 
declared God to be constantly active now. In spite of its 
suffering and its sorrow, it is God’s world. God gives 
its rain and sunshine, clothes the lilies, feeds the birds, 





Mark 12: 32-34. 
89 


Tue MESSAGE OF JESUS 


cares for man. Jesus knew that the evil was there—who 
could know it better?—but behind the evil still he saw 
God. Even from the evil, God would bring good. “Father, 
. . . let this cup pass away from me; nevertheless not as 
I will, but as thou wilt.” ® He foresaw the persecutions of 
the disciples : “They will smite the shepherd and the sheep 
will be scattered” ; ® “They shall deliver you up to councils; 
and in synagogues shall ye be beaten.” 7° He saw all that, 
yet he finishes the statement with the exhortation, “Be not 
anxious!” When his followers apparently were becoming 
discouraged he told them the parable of the sower. True, 
much seed falls on rocks and among thorns and by the 
wayside, but that which falls upon the good soil brings 
forth results even to the hundredfold. 

Jesus had faith in men, He saw hope even in the harlots 
and the publicans whom the official leaders had given up. 
Pessimism sees only the evil. Many of those who brought 
the woman taken in adultery would no doubt have said, 
“Stone her! What hope can there be in her?” Jesus, 
with his sublime faith, not only in this woman but in the 
good in all men and women, said to her, “Go and sin 
no more.’ He never despaired. He amazed Peter by 
his command to forgive an erring brother seventy times 
seven times. But even greater than his faith in man was 
his faith m God. He said, “Ask, and it shall be given 
you; seek, and ye shall find; knock, and it shall be 
opened unto you.’’7* Again I say unto you, If two of 
you shall agree on earth as touching anything that they 
shall ask, it shall be done for them of my Father which 


’ Matthew 26: 39. ® Mark 13:9. 
°Mark 14: 27. 4 Matthew 7:7. 


90 


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Tue MESSAGE OF JESUS 


EERE RES 


is in heaven.” 12. Some might call that unwarranted confi- 
dence, but one could never call Jesus a pessimist. And 
because of this faith in God he was able to go to Jerusalem 
foreseeing his arrest and death, and yet confidently to 
tell his disciples that the grave would be but the path to 
victory.*® 

To Jesus the world was the subject of redemption, not 
damnation. His disciples were to be the salt of the earth 
and the light of the world. They should let their light 
so shine that men would “see your good works and glorify 
your Father in heaven.” ** He saw in the missionary 
work of his disciples “Satan fallen as lightning from 
heaven.” 1® He taught them to pray, “Thy will be done 
on earth as in heaven.” ?® No wonder that in time they 
caught his spirit and went out to cross seas and fight 
wild beasts, convinced that their cause could not fail. 
Surely the Fourth Gospel puts us on the right track 
when it says, “For God sent not the Son into the world 
to judge the world, but that the world through him should 
be saved.” 17 The kingdom that Jesus preached was a 
call to victory through God, not a message of ultimate 
consolation after defeat. 

But there is a second general consideration that we 
cannot leave unmentioned even though it anticipates a 
good deal that will be said later. It was objected that 
the kingdom could not be already in existence because 
the kingdom consists in perfect obedience to God on the 
one hand and complete reward from him on the other, 
and that neither of these is possible in this world. 





2 Matthew 18: 19. %Tuke 10: 18. 
3 Mark 14:28. 1% Matthew 6: 10. 
4 Matthew 5:16. aT briceelty. 


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First, consider obedience. The objection is misdi- 
rected. It assumes that obedience to God’s law is a state 
of static sinlessness which never breaks a precept or 
forgets a rule. Jesus never so thought of it. That was 
the view of goodness which he so strongly repudiated in 
Pharisaism. That is what is called legalism, so many sepa- 
rate laws, all to be perfectly obeyed. Legalism had become 
the curse of Judaism and Jesus did not fall into the error 
of substituting for one legalistic code another set of 
slightly different precepts. He talked about a different 
kind of righteousness, a change of the inner life, a redi- 
rection of the forces of one’s whole being and a devotion 
of oneself to a great ideal. That sort of obedience can 
be complete in this world. It is that which we see in 
the life of Paul in spite of errors and failures, some of 
which are recorded. It was a righteousness of this sort 
that Jesus awoke in the hearts of the publicans, the harlots, 
and the outcasts, people who had to struggle against an 
evil environment and many a vicious habit. We shall see 
that Jesus thought of God’s will for men not so much 
as a series of laws but as a spirit of life. Obedience, law, 
commandment—he does use the terms, but he lifts them 
to a higher level, where the actual meaning they convey 
becomes rather moral and spiritual liberation, consecration 
of character, fellowship with God. A righteousness of 
that sort is a progressive and growing thing. It is not 
synonymous with impeccability. It is possible here and 
now. Indeed, in what other station or condition could a 
devotion of the whole being to a great ideal be better 
expressed ? © 

So also as to the reward. Jesus looked on life with such 
penetrating eyes that he saw beneath the superficiality 


92 


EEE 


Tue MEsSAGE OF JESUS 


aa 


of material possessions. Rich food and gaudy clothing 
he saw were not the most priceless treasures in life. God’s 
greatest blessings would be in terms of the inner life, 
gifts to the spirit and vision and purpose of man. These 
things God can give and does give here and now. Can one 
imagine St. Paul going back to his former life? Or St. 
Francis repudiating his vow of poverty? Or John Wesley 
becoming a conventional cleric in an easy parish? 


Ill 


But while all this is true, Jesus also thought of a 
reward which God will give his children that will transcend 
all earthly limits. We shall certainly misunderstand him 
if we do not keep this clearly in mind. But this brings us 
to that other set of sayings about the kingdom which were 
mentioned above, sayings which can neither be disregarded 
nor taken to the exclusion of all others. 

There are many passages which speak of the kingdom 
as something yet in the future, as a great event that is 
to happen. “Verily I say unto you, I will no more drink 
of the fruit of the vine until that day when I drink it 
new in the kingdom of God.”** “The kingdom is like 
unto ten virgins who took their lamps and went forth to 
meet the bridegroom. . . . Watch therefore, for ye know 
not the day nor the hour.” 19 “There shall be weeping and 
gnashing of teeth, when ye see Abraham and Isaac and 
Jacob and all the prophets in the kingdom of God, and 
yourselves cast without.” 2° “And if thine eye cause thee 


a ee LEE EEE 


®Mark 14:25. ® Luke 13: 28. 
* Matthew 25:1 f. 


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to stumble, cast it out; for it is good for thee to enter 
into the kingdom of God with one eye rather than having 
two eyes to be cast into hell.” 22. “The kingdom of heaven 
is like unto a net that was cast into the sea . . . which 
when it was filled they drew up on the beach; and they sat 
down and gathered the good into vessels, and the bad 
they cast away. So shall it be in the end of the world.” 7? 
“The kingdom of heaven is like unto a man that sowed 
good seed in his field, but while his men slept an enemy 
came and sowed tares among the wheat.’ ?* In these 
and many other sayings, the kingdom is presented in quite 
a different light than in the group of sayings quoted above. 

How are we to understand this thought and how could 
Jesus use the same words to describe two things so very 
different? The answer is clear. It is the same simple 
thought of the Old Testament, God rules and God shall 
rule. Vhe kingdom of God already present upon earth 
struggles against ignorance, greed, and cruelty. With a 
vision of the complete establishment of that rule, men 
and women have gone forth to make the vision real. 
They have given of themselves in life and death, those 
“who through faith subdued kingdoms, wrought righteous- 
ness, obtained promises, quenched the power of fire, 
escaped the edge of the sword, from weakness were made 
strong ... being destitute, afflicted, ill-treated.”?* We 
battle here with evil, we are persecuted for righteousness’ 
sake. Looking back on the centuries we can discern prog- 
ress, a gain here, a victory there. But yet how slow is the 
advance! All around us we see vice organized for gain, 


4 Mark 9: 47. * Matthew 13:24. 
= Matthew 13: 47. * Hebrews 11: 33 f. 


94 





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selfishness joining hands with ignorance, “truth forever 
on the scaffold,’ purity and beauty sacrificed for lust 
and greed. After nearly two thousand years of the 
kingdom the ordinary slum of an American city is almost 
enough to make one lose heart. Can we keep faith after 
the desolations of 1914-1919? Must we not modify our 
hopes for the future and recognize, as many great think- 
ers have concluded, that after all evil is ineradicable? 

In such hours of discouragement Jesus’ teaching as to 
the kingdom comes with ringing challenge. We fight 
not in our own strength alone. There is no possibility 
of failure. Ultimately God’s reign will be complete. He 
is king and he will establish his sovereignty. “Fear not, 
little flock; it is your Father’s good pleastire to give you 
the kingdom.” > Through God’s power the leaven will 
yet leaven the whole lump. “The Son of Man shall send 
forth his angels, and they shall gather out of his kingdom 
all things that cause stumbling and all them that do 
iniquity. . . . Then shall the righteous shine forth as the 
sun in the kingdom of their Father.” 2° That is the assur- 
ance, that is the promise that Jesus gave. The Christian 
Church must never give up that vision of ultimate victory. 
When it does, when we Christians admit that complete 
victory is impossible, we shall become in prophetic lan- 
guage “a people of relaxed hands and trembling knees.” 


IV 


But when will be the day of that ultimate divine 
manifestation? That question has disturbed men from 


pig BETA Ra Fo *Matthew 13:41, 43. 
95 


THE MESSAGE OF JESUS 


the days when Paul found it necessary to write to the 
Thessalonian Christians on the subject. Many are the 
apocalypses that have been written declaring that the pre- 
destined hour is just before us. Many fanatical leaders 
have disturbed the Church throughout the centuries claim- 
ing the fulfillment of prophecy. The missionary programs 
of the Church, the endeavors to make our own institutions 
righteous, the tasks of social service have frequently 
lagged through such distraction of the interest of devout — 
Christians. What did Jesus say about the date of the end? 

The answer is brief but conclusive. Whatever interpre- 
tation may be put on the thirteenth chapter of Mark or the 
twenty-sixth chapter of Matthew, we may be sure that 
Jesus never told his disciples when that day would be. 
Once the Pharisees put the question and he answered, 
as we have seen, by declaring that his questioners should 
cease saying “Lo here, lo there,’ but should turn their 
attention to the kingdom that was already present. The 
second occasion is given in Mark 13. The disciples, 
resting on a hill overlooking Jerusalem, asked him spe- 
cifically about times and seasons. And what was his 
reply? He warned them of many things—of the diffi- 
culties they would meet, of the certain fall of Jerusalem— 
but refused to name the day of the great consummation. 
Why? For the simple reason, he declared, that he did 
not know. “But of that day or that hour knoweth no one, 
not even the angels in heaven, neither the Son, but the 
Father.” 27 

That one verse should stop our efforts to pry into the 
unknown mysteries of God. If Jesus did not know, can 


7 Mark 13: 32. 
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THE MESSAGE OF JESUS 





we find out? If he did not regard that knowledge as 
essential for the founding of the kingdom, can we do 
less than follow his example? Jesus has shown the way. 
Our duty is to work for the kingdom, to promote its 
growth, to enter into its privileges and joys. To God 
belongs the consummation in his own good time. 


TOPICS AND QUESTIONS FOR REVIEW AND DIS- 
CUSSION 


1. State clearly the view of the kingdom presented first in 
this chapter. What are some of the Gospel passages cited in 
support of it? 

2. Compare this view of the kingdom with the Old Testament 
view of the Kingship of God presented in the last chapter. How 
does it differ? What literature does present this view? 

3, Cite three parables which describe the kingdom as a 
growing thing. Two or three which describe it as an event of 
the future. 

4. Give the story of the two occasions on which Jesus was 
asked when the kingdom cometh. What was his reply in each 
case? 

5. Which of the two views here considered is the greater 

stimulant toward social reform? 

6. Explain the saying, “I saw Satan fallen as lightning from 
heaven.” (Luke 10:18.) What general outlook on life does 
this saying imply? 

7. Do you think that the belief in the ultimate complete rule 
of God on earth is of any practical moral value? 


97 


CHAPTER 1 
WHAT IS RIGHTEOUSNESS? 


THE kingdom is God’s rule over man. It exists wher- 
ever men obey the will of God. But there’s the rub. It is 
easy to talk of doing God’s will—no bigot or fanatic in 
all the history of religion but claimed that. The priests 
who led out the children from their homes to die in 
foreign lands on the terrible Children’s Crusade, the 
leaders of the Inquisition in Holland, the witch burners 
of New England, the early Mormon leaders—they all 
claimed to be simply doing God’s will. 

Jesus knew that trait of human nature. According 
to John’s Gospel he warned his disciples, “The hour 
cometh that whosoever killeth you will think that he 
offereth service unto God.’ * He knew that trait because 
he himself had encountered it. His opponents -had called 
him “Beelzebub” and thus posed as representatives of God — 
as they sent him to the cross. They denounced his free- 
dom from restraint, his originality, his spiritual genius, 
on the grounds that he differed from the Mosaic Law and 
hence was a dangerous iconoclast. There is little doubt 
that the people who crucified Jesus thought themselves 
exponents and defenders of the divine will. 

So when we speak of obedience to God we are thrown 
back on the question, What is God’s will? This is only 
another way of asking, ““What is righteousness?” which 


*John 16:2. 
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is the question that stands at the head of this chapter. 
And so we see on closer examination that the subject of 
the kingdom, or the rule of God, is the framework within 
which will be found the content of Jesus’ real message. 
The thought of the kingdom—obedience to God and en- 
joyment of his blessings—is the scheme of presentation, 
so to speak, carrying within it the vital, powerful, moral 
message which Jesus gave. 

To understand Jesus’ teaching of righteousness we 
shall do well to compare it with the ideal of righteousness 
which the rabbis were holding up to the people of his day. 
God’s will, they declared, was to be found in the sacred 
books of the law, and to a lesser degree in the Prophets. 
The law gave definite precepts and rules of action. These 
rules of action were of course the divine will, and right- 
eousness consisted of obedience to them. Judaism was 
thus always a way of life, a code of action much more 
than it was a system of belief or a philosophy. Pharisees 
and Saducees, Essenes and proselytes, might differ and 


, did differ on matters of belief, but in action there could be 
- nodeviations. The Torah (or Law) must be kept. 


Specific obedience to its precepts was righteousness. 

Of course individual teachers went deeper than this 
and insisted on motives and attitudes as well as acts. 
There are some splendid sayings preserved from the 
Rabbis of Judaism. But in general we may take the 
above statements as adequate for our purpose. 

Obviously, such a system has very admirable features. 
All our law codes are built on the same principle. The 
law says that murder is a crime and certain punishments 
will be meted out to the offender. But the law must 
await the overt act. No amount of malice in the heart, 


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THE MESSAGE OF JESUS 





even a determination to kill, brings you within the pale 
of the law until the intention has issued in action. That 
is probably the only way in which a legal system can 
be operated. 

But as a religion this system of legal obedience is 
external and superficial. It fails to get beneath the sur- 
face. It encourages casuistry, playing one precept off 
against another. It makes or tends to make all duties of 
equal value as being all equally commanded by the law— 
the tithing of mint on a moral level with the care of aged 
parents. It limits and defines the moral ideal to one set 
of acts and one set of restraints. It hardens religion into 
the duties of one particular period or state of culture. 
No wonder Jesus with his clear moral sense repudiated 
the whole system. 


I 


Jesus declared, in the first place, that righteousness 
is something more inclusive than any set of rules or pre- 
scriptions. It goes beyond the act itself and demands 
a certain state of the heart as well. In the Sermon on 
the Mount he shows this in a very striking way. He takes 
those cases in which no one ever questioned the validity 
of the written precept, those cases of law at its strongest, 
and declares that the act or abstention alone is not 
sufficient. “Ye have heard that it was said to them of 
old, Thou shalt not kill; but I say unto you that every 
one of you who is angry with his brother is in danger 
of the judgment.”* Ye have heard that it was said, 
Thou shalt not commit adultery; but I say unto you that 


* Matthew 5:21, 22. 
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every one that looketh on a woman to lust after her hath 
committed adultery with her already in his heart.” * “Ye 
have heard that it was said, Thou shalt not forswear thy- 
self, but shall perform unto the Lord thine oaths; but 1 
say unto you” ... let truth so dwell in the heart that 
your yea will mean yea and your nay, nay.* The mere 
outward conformity in all these is not enough. 

This thought is basic with Jesus. Goodness demands 
something within the life as well. The rich men cast 
mutch into the treasury, but their gifts, although externally 
more valuable, he declared to be less than the offering by 
a poor widow of “two mites, which make a farthing.” * 
For there was something which she added to those two 
small coins that was lacking in the larger contributions. 
He declared in a crucial case which we have already 
discussed that nothing from without could make a man 
unclean, but only that which comes from within, a saying 
which carries all goodness back to the inner life from 
which it springs.* When the scribe asked him which was 
the chief commandment, he went behind all external 
performances and declared that simple love of God and 
man, was the essential thing.” He declared that the 
primary moral issue did not concern itself with details 
of behavior, but rather with the question whether there 
existed within the soul a light which would illumine all 
the body. ‘Look therefore whether the light that is in 
thee be not darkness!” § 





* Matthew 5:27, 28. *Matthew 5: 33, 37. 
5 Mark 12:41 f. * Mark: 7: 15. 
™Mark 12:28f. and Matthew 22: 35 f. 

® Luke 11:35; cf. Matthew 6: 22-23. 


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II 


Thus goodness is within, said Jesus. But he did 
not mean by that a vapid sentiment or emotion. His 
demands in regard to conduct were as rigorous as those 
of any of the ancient prophets. “By their fruits ye shall 
know them.” ® “Each tree is known by its fruits.” 4° “Not 
every one that saith unto me, Lord, Lord, shall enter into 
the kingdom of heaven, but he that doeth the will of 
my Father in heaven.’ ** In the magnificent parable of 
the great judgment * “the kingdom prepared from the 
foundation of the world” was for those who fed the 
hungry, clothed the naked, and visited those who were 
sick and in prison. The parable of the house that was 
built upon sand was Jesus’ picture of those who hear 
the teachings and no doubt assent, but who “do them 
nate +* The goodness within must. flow into concrete 
expression. 

The truth of the matter is that Jesus’ ideal, of right- 
eousness claimed the whole man. He demanded an entire 
devotion. He refused to divide the r nature of man into 
thoughts and motives on the one hand and deeds on the. 
other. Man is a unit. ~ Jesus did not want new acts or 
new motives, but new men. He called for good men, 
not good thoughts or good deeds. His own words here 
are better than any commentary: “The good man,” he 
says in Matthew 12: 35, “out of his good treasure bringeth 
forth good things; and the evil man out of his evil treasure 


° Matthew 7: 16. % Matthew 25: 31 f. 
® Luke 6: 44. . “Matthew 7: 26. 
“Matthew 7: 21. 


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bringeth forth evil things.’ “Ye generation of vipers, 
how can ye, being evil, speak good things?” ** 

This thought of wholeness receives a splendid illustra- 
tion in some words which follow the above quotation about 
the good man. “Every idle word which men shall speak, 
they shall give an account thereof in the da lay of of judg- 
ment. 45 That seems indeed a hard saying. But when 
one thinks of it, is it not just the idle word that expresses 
the real self, the nature within freed from all social re- 
straints and formal requirements? The idle word, the 
chance act—why, every playwright realizes that just such 
things are the clue to the real character of the person. 
What Jesus is saying is that the really righteous man is 
one who can stand | judgment even on his idle words, “when 
untrammeled expression is is given to n to the self w within: “The 
good man out of his good treasure ‘bringeth forth good 
things.” 


III 


But Jesus went further. This whole self to be 
righteous must have a positive and active character. 
Goodness is not negative. It is not a colorless abstention 
from certain vices nor even a performance of a round 
of stated duties. In his hands it comes much nearer being 
an inspired passion. Most of Jesus’ teaching deals not 
with prohibitions, but with positive commands. He had 
no word of praise for passive morality. The young man 
who had kept all the law is commanded to do something— 
to sell his goods and give to the poor. One of the most 
striking of the beatitudes is the seventh, which declares 





4 Matthew 12: 34. 4% Matthew 12: 36. 
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that it is the peacemakers—not the peace keepers—that 
are especially blessed. The climax and close of the 
beatitudes is one twice pronounced upon those “who are 
persecuted for righteousness’ sake’’—that is, those who are 
in the very forefront of the struggle and are suffering 
for the cause. He significantly told his disciples that they 
were ‘‘the salt of the earth,’ which did not mean that 
they were merely good people, but that a great task diffi- 
cult of accomplishment awaited them, the seasoning and 
saving of the world. 

Notice too the type of sinners we find Jesus most often 
denouncing. They are people who have done nothing. 
In the parable of the Great Judgment the condemnation 
is because “I was hungered and ye gave me no meat, | 
was thirsty and ye gave me no drink, naked and ye clothed 
me not, sick and in prison and ye did not visit me.” ** 
What had they done?—nothing at all. So in the other 
parables. The priest and the Levite broke no moral law, 
they merely passed by on the other side. Of the rich 
man “clothed in purple and faring sumptuously every day” 
there is recorded no evil except that a beggar named 
Lazarus lay at his gate full of sores and sick of hunger 
and he stirred not to help him.‘7. The unprofitable servant 
cast into outer darkness was one to whom a talent had 
been given, but who was content to hide it in the earth.?8 
There is a positive self-motivating quality about goodness. 
It is a thing of enterprise and initiative. 

Perhaps the clearest presentation of this positive out- 
look on life is Jesus’ saying about the devil who went 





% Matthew 25: 42 f. *® Matthew 25: 14f. 
7 Luke 16: 19 f. 


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pu 
Tue MEsSAGE OF JESUS 


i S 


out of a man and later returned. He came back because 
the house from which he had gone stood “empty, swept, 
and garnished.” “Then taketh he seven other spirits more 
evil than himself; and they enter in and dwell there: and 
the last state of that man becometh worse than the first.” *° 
Whatever we may think about details of the parable, we 
must not let escape us the clear issue that Jesus here por- 
trays. The elimination of evil is not enough. One's life 
will be e filled, if not ot _by a new spirit and attitude, tl then with_ 
the e_old id inhabi itantsi ob here renunciation ¢ of _old ideals. is will 
avail nothing unless new 2 aims and nd objec ectives are set et before _ 
one. Honesty that merely will not steal, _purity _ “that 
commits $s no oyert_act, humanity _ ‘that + simply takes no no- 
“undue advant age,” these _ sorts of virtues fall far short_ 
of Jesus’ esus’ definition of f goodness. 


IV 


But what is the nature of that active creative dis- 
position which Jesus called goodness ¢ What is it to be 
active in doing? The answer is too well known to require 
demonstration. To his contemporaries constantly holding 
before themselves the law and the prophets Jesus said 
that it was keeping the true spirit of the Old Testament 
Scriptures. To- day it is not so necessary to have the 
answer couched in terms of that older revelation. We 
can put it quite simply—it is an active life of loving 
service. 

He summed it up in several utterances which are the 
heart of the New Testament. Certain of the greatest 








” Matthew 12:43 f. and Luke 11:24 f. 
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of these were quite extempore, arising out of questions 
asked him by some listener. Without undertaking to 
make an extended list, I will cite three of these great 
passages which describe the nature of the Christian life. 

The first is the familiar answer to the question of 
the scribe as to which commandment was the first. 
“Jesus answered, Hear, O Israel . . . Thou shalt love the 
Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and 
with all thy mind, and with all thy strength. The second 
is this, Thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself.” °° In 
Matthew there are added the words, “On these two com- 
mandments hangeth the whole law, and the prophets.” 

Side by side with this great saying should be put the 
so-called Golden Rule: “All things therefore whatsoever 
ye would that men should do unto you, even so do ye 
also unto them; for this is the law andthe prophets.” 7? 

And then we must add that saying which Jesus appar- 
ently uttered a number of times, judging from the variety 
of forms and occasions in which we find it in the Gospels— 
“Whosoever would become great among you shall be your 
minister,’ “He that is greatest among you shall be your 
servant.” ?? 

These sayings, to which we could add others almost 
as clear and conclusive, are the heart of Jesus’ teaching. 
Goodness, the righteousness of the kingdom, is just that, 
the complete devotion of the self in loving service. To 
love God and one’s neighbor as oneself, to do unto others 
as you would have them do unto you, to become the 


® Mark 12: 28f. and Matthew 22: 34 f. 
4 Matthew 7:12 and Luke 6: 31. 
™Mark 10:43, Matthew 23:11; 20:26, Luke 9:48; 22:26. 


106 


a 


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En 


minister and servant of all—this simple but comprehensive 
ideal Jesus declared to be the will of God for men. 


Vv 


The implications and significance of such an ideal 
of righteousness will be discussed in a succeeding chapter. 
But there is still another quality of goodness as Jesus 
thought of it that we must not overlook. The good life 
is one of constant growth and progress. It never iS 
satisfied or content. It is always attaining, it has never 
attained. The really righteous man never becomes self- 
complacent. This is one of Jesus’ most striking, and at 
the same time one of his most characteristic ideas. 

This comes out with unequivocal clearness in Jesus’ 
criticism of certain of the Pharisees. The latter were 
the respectable leaders of the community, noteworthy for 
their public rectitude and scrupulous morality. They 
were good people according to the general judgment of 
their neighbors. Now Jesus gives a parable in Luke 
18:9. about one of these Pharisees who went up into 
the Temple to pray. There was also in the Temple that 
day a publican—a moral outcast. The Pharisee stood up 
and prayed, “God, I thank thee that I am not as the 
rest of men, greedy, dishonest, or adulterous, like that 
tax-collector. I fast twice in the week, I pay tithes on 
everything I get.” ?* Now notice that Jesus does not 
suggest that this claim was not warranted. “But the 
tax-collector stood at a distance and would not even raise 
his eyes to heaven, but struck his breast and said, ‘O God, 


See eee ernment 





27 uke 18:10f. as in Goodspeed, An American Translation. 


107 


THE MESSAGE OF JESUS 








have mercy on a sinner like me.’ I tell you, it was he 
who went back with God’s approval, and not the other.” 

That story needs little comment. Goodness of character 
is-not so many good deeds, be they ever so valuable. 
It is an ongoing process of the soul. It does not mean 
character that is fixed, hardened into a mold, but life 
that is ever growing and reshaping itself to higher ends. 

Much of Jesus’ denunciation of the Pharisees goes 
back to this point. According to the conventions, they 
were undoubtedly the righteous of Israel. But the temper 
of the lives of many of them lacked a basic element. 
There was in these cases no sense of personal inadequacy ; 
they wanted no nobler life. They were conscious of 
their goodness and remembered their virtues. They saw 
nothing wrong with themselves nor with a society that 
had so many good people in it. And so they had stopped 
the fountains of growth in goodness. Jesus would not 
have people continually repeating the publican’s experi- 
ence, beating their breasts and not daring to look up 
to heaven, but unhesitatingly he declared that a life that 
was stained and marred, even like that publican’s, but 
which had such an outlook on life, receives God’s approval 
rather than the self-sufficient piety of Pharisaism. 

Let us turn to other evidence of this attitude of Jesus. 
We need go no further than the Beatitudes, strikingly 
placed by Matthew as a sort of title-page to the teaching 
of Jesus. These verses taken together picture the kind 
of character that Jesus said would be shown by those 
in the kingdom. It is remarkable that three out of the 
first four have to do with this thought of a constant moral 
progress and enrichment. 

The first one as usually translated reads, ‘Blessed are 


108 


Re ————e 


Tue MEssaAGE oF JESUS 


rr 


the poor in spirit: for theirs is the kingdom of God.” 
This phrase “poor in spirit” is the Gospel equivalent for 
a very old Hebrew term. In certain Psalms, in passages 
like Isaiah 61:1 and elsewhere in the prophets, the term 
“poor” is used frequently in the sense of those faithful 
Israelites whose trust and hope is in God alone. It 
describes “the man who has a deep sense of his deficiency 
and dependence upon God. Ethically characterized, the 
poor in spirit are the humble, the teachable, the open- 
minded. . . . They are to be contrasted with those who 
are filled with pride, conceit, self-satisfaction, and self- 
will.” 24 In view of this real meaning of the term an 
American scholar of profound insight as well as learning ”° 
has recently translated the first Beatitude with the words 
“Blessed are those who feel their spiritual need, for 
the kingdom of Heaven belongs to them.” The chief 
cornerstone of the ideal character, then, is humble teach- 
ableness, a constant openness toward God for grace and 
strength. This is the quality that attends all growth, 
whether of mind or of heart. 

The third Beatitude, “Blessed are the meek,” repeats 
the lesson, though in slightly different form. The meek 
are to be contrasted with that type of individual sure of 
his own rights, confident as to the infallibility of his own 
opinion, bellicose wherever his own interests are concerned. 
But it is in the fourth Beatitude that this thought of 
Jesus comes out most simply and strongly: “Blessed 
are those who hunger and thirst after righteousness.” 
Here we have held out as typical of the good man a perma- 
ee 82a ARAB ESS Be 


*T1.C. King, The Ethics of Jesus, p. 207. 
** Goodspeed: An American Translation. 


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nent yearning of the soul for the ideal of life. We have 
been accustomed to pass off rather glibly this saying for 
the use of the definitely unchristian, forgetting that these 
sayings describe the life of the kingdom. Jesus does 
not speak here of a momentary state just previous to a 
conversion experience. It is a constant state of soul 
which he says should mark every man striving to do 
God’s will. 

And it is a familiar fact that great saints of the earth 
have been men and women with just this quality, people 
like St. Francis of Assisi, St. Augustine, John Wesley. 
The Apostle Paul is a good case in point. Here was a 
man who gave up everything for the sake of his mission 
and who almost alone spread the religion of Jesus over 
the known world. And yet he wrote of himself, “I am 
the least of the apostles, that am not worthy to be called 
an apostle,” ** or even more emphatically in a letter toward 
the close of his life, “who am less than the least of all 
the saints.” 77 Indeed, our best comment on this whole 
aspect of Jesus’ teaching might be Paul’s own words 
written from prison with his extraordinary life behind 
him, “I count not myself yet to have apprehended; but 
one thing I do, forgetting the things which are behind, 
and stretching forward to the things which are before, I 
press on toward the goal.” ?8 


If we look back over this chapter and pull together what 
has been said, we will see that we have been getting away 
from particular deeds and specific performance to some- 





*°1 Corinthians 15: 9, * Philippians 3: 13, 14. 
™ Ephesians 3: 8. 


110 





THE MESSAGE OF JESUS 





thing deeper and fuller. Men have again and again tried 
to define righteousness, goodness, in terms of such par- 
ticular things. It would be an easy thing if religion could 
be relegated to a part of life, this set of deeds, this part 
of the week, this habitual behavior. Jesus declared that 
all such was hypocrisy. Goodness is no less than the 
whole man given in loving service. He called men to a 
devotion of themselves—no less than that. And he insisted 
that the selves which they should devote must never 
become fixed and set on any level, no matter how high. 

It becomes clear as we read that Jesus’ thought puts a 
premium on three things. The first is a qaompletely 
unified life. Halfway measures will not avail. The whole 
self must be organized around a central principle of life. 
“Ye cannot serve God and Mammon” is one of the keys, 
he said, to the problem of living. ‘When thy eye is single, 
thy whole body is full of light.” The religious impulse 
must be a unifying principle of living or it is nothing 
at all. In the second place, it puts a premium on activity, 
initiative, the inner life expressed in deeds. There is an 
emphasis on concrete reality throughout. In the third 
place, it puts a premium on individuality. The fact that 
religion and conventionality are in many places almost 
synonymous terms shows that we have woefully missed 
Jesus’ teaching. He emphasized in character growth, 
change, flux, development. The Christian ought to be 
ever stimulating, with new appreciations, new depths of 
conviction, new enlargement of personality. 

But what is the basis of such a transcendent thought 
of goodness? The answer sweeps us away from all 
thoughts of practical ethics. It was not a theory of ethics 
that Jesus taught to the crowds of fishermen and peasants 


111 


THE MESSAGE OF JESUS 





who gathered to hear him. The basis of it all was the 
thought of God. This is righteousness and this only, 
because righteousness is in its essence entering into a 
fellowship with God, and God is like that—completely 
loving, active in good will, perfect in all ways. 

We are dealing here with the most central thing in 
the teaching of Jesus. From his thought of God radiates 
all else that he said. God is all lov ng and all perfect. 
His rule or kingdom is not over subjects, but children. 
Being like a father, he seeks love and fellowship from his 
children instead of servile obedience. Such fellowship 
must be based on likeness of character. Love is the 
most characteristic quality of the Divine Nature, a love 
of all men and all creatures. Hence he who would do 
God’s will as a member of the kingdom will love God and 
his fellow men. Goodness is God-likeness. Hence it 
must be for us a constant growth and progress—else it 
denies its essential character. 

This final thought is simply and naturally stated in 
the words found in Matthew 5: 43-48: “I say unto you, 
Love your enemies, and pray for them that persecute you; 
that ye may be sons of your Father which is in heaven: 
for he maketh his sun to rise on the evil and the good, 
and sendeth the rain on the just and the unjust.” And 
then a little later—‘Ye therefore shall be perfect, as your 
heavenly Father is perfect.” 

We used to hear more of godliness than we do now. 
It has rather gone out of style, it seems. People said it 
was other-worldly. Unfortunately, too, the word seems 
to have acquired something of a passive note. But it was 
godliness that Jesus demanded. The greatest teacher of 
the pagan world, Plato, approached the same conception 


112 





Tue MESSAGE OF JESUS 





when he closed his great book, The Republic, with the 
injunction that we must walk on earth with our eye 
on heaven. But Jesus went far beyond that. The ranges 
of his thought leave the metaphysic of Plato far behind. 
Yet nothing could be more simple or more clear than this 
teaching, a teaching that applies the very character of 
God to even the details of our ordinary experiences. 
“And if ye salute your brethren only, what do ye more 
than others? Do not even the Gentiles the same? Be ye 
therefore perfect, even as your heavenly Father is perfect.” 


QUESTIONS FOR DISCUSSION AND REVIEW 


1. What illustrations can you give, other than those men- 
tioned in this chapter, of people who have been mistaken in 
believing that they were performing God’s will? Are there any 
cases of this kind mentioned in the Old Testament? 

Z. What is meant by “legalism” in religion? Are any traces 
of this to be found in Churches in our own day? What is the 
danger of a legalistic formulation of religion? 

3. Cite some of the evidence which shows that Jesus thought 
of goodness as a positive, active thing. Which is the easier to 
achieve, a “negative” goodness or a “positive” goodness? 

4. In the light of Jesus’ teaching as to the necessity of con- 
stant growth in goodness, can we ever afford to judge our 
own conduct by a comparison with some one else’s? 

5. Open your Bible to the Beatitudes in Matthew 5: 3-11. 
State which phase of Jesus’ conception of goodness each one 
illustrates. 

6. Discuss Jesus’ teaching on righteousness from the stand- 
point of its permanent validity. Will it ever need adding to? 

7. Show that Jesus’ definition of goodness corresponds to his 
revelation of the character of God. 


113 


CHAE] Hh Vine 
THE CHRISTIAN DISPOSITION—LOVE 


Jesus went about calling men to enter into the kingdom 
of God. As he preached he also taught what the right- 
eousness of that kingdom meant—active love toward God 
and man. We have seen how he said that love was the 
central and dominant element in the life of those who 
would do the will of God. 

We must grasp clearly the all-embracing character of 
this disposition of love. It cannot be confined to any 
portion of life. It is not, on the one hand, identical with 
any set of deeds or habits which we may label as good 
works. Nor, on the other hand, must we think of it as 
a general, practical life of “service.” It is.a light which 
shines from within. It is an inner attitude finding natural 
expression in concrete activities. The good deed, the 
life of service, is simply the mirror of the spirit within. 
In practice we Christians have tended to weaken the com- 
pleteness of Jesus’ vision because his ideal seems so far 
above us. We have ourselves to blame in such a case 
when men begin to doubt the finality of his ethical 
teaching. 


I 


But once that character of love is clearly grasped, 
several elements in Jesus’ teaching, at first obscure, become 
luminous. In the first place, we understand now why 
he condemns not only the wrong act but the very desire 


114 


Tue MESSAGE OF JESUS 


out of which it springs. “Ye have heard that it was said 
unto them of old, Thou shalt not kill; . . . but I say unto 
you that every one who is angry with his brother shall be in 
danger of the judgment.” + “Ye have heard that it was 
said, Thou shalt not commit adultery: but I say unto 
you that every one that looketh on a woman to lust after 
her hath committed adultery with her already in his 
heart.” 2 “Ye have heard that it was said, Thou shalt love 
thy neighbor and hate thine enemy: but I say unto you, 
Love your enemies and pray for them that persecute 
you.” * These precepts have been frequently criticized 
as absolutely impossible of obedience and unfair in their 
judgment. No man can control his thoughts, it is objected. 
All that one can ask is that the individual suddenly 
inflamed by anger shall restrain himself from committing 
an act of injury, that the man who is persecuted shall not 
retaliate. The person who locks his evil impulses within 
his own breast there to die for lack of expression deserves, 
it is asserted, not criticism, but the highest praise. 

But this objection overlooks that fundamental con- 
ception of Jesus that we have stated. Lust and anger 
and resentment are wrong because a very different spirit 
should dwell in the inner life. It cannot be too often 
repeated that Jesus did not intend for men merely to 
refrain from murder and its like, but he wanted them 
to become loving individuals. Such an overpowering 
emotion of love should exist within as to eliminate contrary 
impulses. The whole man given in love—that, we saw 
in the last chapter, was Jesus’ ideal of goodness. Against 





*Matthew 5:21. ®> Matthew 5: 43, 44. 
7 Matthew 5: 27. 


115 


THE MESSAGE OF JESUS 


that background it becomes clear why he declared that 
anger and lust and a vindictive spirit were absolutely and 
unequivocally wrong in themselves, quite apart from the 
question of their expression in deed. 

The illustration in the last chapter of how men shall 
give an account for their idle words makes this principle 
clear. All of us realize that much of our virtue is forced 
upon us by environment and circumstance, but that is 
not the kind of goodness that Jesus demanded. The 
essential thing is the sort of real self we are, back of the 
restraints and inhibitions placed upon us. Jesus had in 
mind individuals who had become innately good, whose 
very words would carry sweetness and good will, whose 
strong love of humanity would make desecrating lust and 
bitter anger impossible. 

In the next place, when we understand this conception 
of righteousness, we see why it was that Jesus never gave 
rules of conduct. For if the essence of goodness be the 
activity of love, the moral criterion or guide ceases to be 
an external standard and becomes an inner light. The 
Christian who has love in his heart becomes his own moral 
guide. Of this Jesus was clearly cognizant, as is shown 
by the two great passages previously quoted on love as 
the sum of the law. ‘These are so important that it will 
be worth while to recall them. First, “Thou shalt love 
the Lord thy God . . . and thy neighbor as thyself. On 
these two hangeth the whole law, and the prophets.” * 
And then the other one: “All things whatsoever ye would 
that men should do unto you, do ye even so unto them; for 
this is the law and the prophets.” ® What further need of 


“Matthew 22: 37-40. 5 Matthew 7: 12. 
116 


-—  SSSSSSSSSSSSS) 


THE MEssAGE oF JEsuS 
SS SSNS 


law or rule? Does the loving individual need a catalog 
of prohibitions? Or, putting it the other way around, 
could any catalog of duties exhaust the forms of his 
service? In some cases love drives one to the heart of 
Africa, in others one’s task is at the door. In some situa- 
tions it is the soft answer that turneth away wrath, in 
others it is the voice of a prophet demanding justice in 
the land. Love needs no list of rules; it is a voice which 
is never silent. 

This is why Paul, when he discovered the “riches of 
the graciousness of Christ Jesus,’ declared that the law 
was no longer binding upon the Christian converts. That 
was a very daring thing for him to say, for we must 
remember that the center of that Jewish law was the Ten 
Commandments and that the legal system of Judaism was 
the highest moral code that the world had known. We 
usually say that Paul rejected the “ceremonial law” but 
kept the moral code, but that is only because we have 
not understood the apostle or his Master. Paul dared to 
say, “In Christ Jesus neither circumcision availeth any- 
thing, nor uncircumcision; but faith working through 
love.” ° “If ye are led by the Spirit, ye are not under 
the law”’;* “For the whole law is fulfilled in one 
word, Thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself.”* For 
Paul had rediscovered this truth that Jesus taught—that 
love spontaneously performs that which the command- 
ment sought in vain. 

This self-direction of Christian righteousness gives to 
it a freshness ever new. It can never become hardened 





* Galatians 5: 6. ® Galatians 5: 14, 
"Galatians 5:18, 


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THE MESSAGE OF JESUS 





into a code destined in time to be outgrown. It becomes 
a permanent rule of righteousness. This is why the 
Christian ethic claims for itself an absolute finality. So 
long as love and service remain the need of the world, 
just so long will Jesus remain its moral leader. 


ii 


But we shall best understand this teaching of love 
by asking specifically as to its applications. What does 
this teaching of Jesus mean in actual practice? 

1, First it means forgiveness. In ordinary conver- 
sation, when one speaks of showing a Christian spirit it is 
usually a forgiving spirit that is meant. In everyday life 
to “act like a Christian’? means, for the average person, 
to forgive injuries done us. ‘There is much in Jesus’ 
teaching beside the requirement of forgiveness, but it has 
produced this general impression for two reasons: the 
rarity of such teaching in the ancient world, and the force 
and strength of the language in which Jesus enjoined it. 
Consider some of these sayings. “How oft shall my 
brother sin against me, and I forgive him?” asked Peter. 
“Until seven times? Jesus saith unto him, I say not unto 
thee, Until seven times; but, Until seventy times seven.” ® 
In the corresponding passage in Luke the injunction is 
“seven times per day.’ ‘Forgive us our debts as we 
also have forgiven our debtors, ... For if ye forgive 
not men their trespasses, neither will your Father forgive 
your trespasses.” 7° “Whosoever smitest thee on thy right 
cheek, turn to him the other also. And if any man would 


*Matthew 18:21 f. Matthew 6: 12-15. 
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Tue MESSAGE OF JESUS 


go to law with thee, and take away thy coat, let him have 
thy cloak also.” ++ The parable of the ungrateful servant 
who, having received remittance of his debt, was extor- 
tionate toward him that owed a hundred pence leads up 
to the warning, “So shall also my heavenly Father do unto 
you if ye forgive not every one his brother from your 
hearts.” 7? 

Why is this teaching on forgiveness so outstanding? 
It seems to me that there are two very clear ideas in 
the general thought of Jesus which come to a focus in 
the spirit of forgiveness. In the first place, situations 
which call for the exercise of forgiveness are the test 
cases, so to speak, of whether one thinks in unselfish 
terms. Love, everyone admits, is a most commendable 
virtue; and a generous, hospitable, helpful disposition is 
admired by us all. That one should be amiable toward 
one’s neighbors, serviceable in the community, kind to 
stray dogs and the grateful poor—that much of Jesus’ 
teaching is accepted by everybody and requires no special 
depth of moral conviction. “If ye do good to them that 
do good to you, what thank have you? For even sinners 
do the same,’ ** as Jesus said. But this natural kindly 
impulse is in ordinary life reserved for those whom 
we say “deserve it’; that is, those who have shown 
no contrary spirit toward ourselves. But what happens 
when we have been injured, clearly wronged, as we see it? 
It is then and only then that anger flames up, that retalia- 
tion in the most effective way dominates the thought and 
sentiments such as love and benevolence are thrust aside 


* Matthew 5: 39, 40. PLKe: Os dd: 
™ Matthew 18: 35. 


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in the rush of passion. He who can love only those who 
are generously disposed themselves or those who appeal 
to his natural instincts of sympathy and pity is only 
playing at the game of Christian living. The real test 
is when injury has been done us. Then, if we really love, 
comes our great opportunity. Only then can the deepest, 
truest love be seen. That is the acid test which will show 
whether we value our selfish interests above our brethren. 
And if we can’t forgive, if selfish concerns do really 
dominate our thought and action, and love is exercised 
only where these are not concerned, what a farce it is to 
pretend to the righteousness which Jesus commanded! 

In the second place, we must not pass on without 
observing that in this matter of forgiveness we have a 
clear example of the fact pointed out at the close of the 
last chapter, that with Jesus all goodness was grounded 
in the character of God. “Love your enemies and pray 
for those who persecute you; that ye may be sons of your 
Father in heaven: for he maketh his sun to rise on the 
evil and the good.’ ** Jesus emphasized forgiveriess 
because he saw it in God’s dealing with men. In the 
processes of nature Jesus said there was no favoritism. 
The richness of God’s world was spread before the evil 
as well as the good. No person, however reprobate, is 
beyond the possibility of the divine fellowship. God’s 
forgiveness is universal and infinite if only men will 
turn away from their sin. And so a readiness to forgive 
is essential to the Christian spirit because that is char- 
acteristic of God’s nature. 

This is the first great application of the Christian 


* Matthew 5:44, 45. 
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teaching of love. Before going on to the second field of 
application, it will probably be well for us to pause long 
enough to consider a question closely related to the above, 
over which there has been much discussion and doubt—the 
question of retaliation, resistance of wrong. 

How far did Jesus take this teaching of forgiveness? 
Did he mean that wrong was never to be resisted? 
Tolstoy,® after long dissatisfaction, felt that he had found 
the center of the Christian ethic in that one phrase, 
“Resist not evil.”” This in literal form he exalted into 
the cardinal rule of life. Nor does this passage stand 
alone in Jesus’ teachings ; there are the injunctions to turn 
the other cheek when struck upon the face, to give up 
one’s cloak to an extortioner who would take away the 
coat, to go the second mile with him who impresses you 
into service.t® Does all this mean that the police are 
unchristian and that aggressors should be allowed to run 
their course unmolested? What did Jesus actually mean 
in this doctrine of forgiveness? 

There are a number of arguments which could be used 
to show that Jesus was not laying down a hard and fast 
rule of conduct, but was trying to teach a great principle 
which Christians themselves would have to apply to 
various situations. It could be pointed out, for example, 
that the Sermon on the Mount deals throughout with 
principles and not with rules. The teaching about 
praying in one’s closet is surely not to be taken as a rule 
to be invariably followed. Nor the one about agreeing 
with thy adversary quickly while on the way to the court. 





* Tolstoy: My Religion, ch. 1-3. 
* Matthew 5: 38-41. 


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Nor do we consider it necessary nowadays always to 
anoint one’s head when fasting. Throughout the Sermon 
Jesus is enunciating great principles instead of laying 
down exact and literal rules. In the next place, one 
could point out that Jesus himself used force when he 
cleansed the temple; and, more important still, on the one 
occasion when the Gospels record that he was actually 
struck upon the cheek he did not turn the other, but only 
made a calm and dignified reply.17 But it seems to me 
that the most effective way to consider this teaching and 
its. real meaning is to ask the question which Jesus 
repeatedly declared to be at the base of all moral problems: 
What is the course of action which love would dictate? 
Now there are two phases of this answer, both of which 
point in the same direction. In the first place, love for 
the aggressor himself might sometimes mean the use of 
force. The policeman who prevents a murder is the 
would-be murderer’s best friend. Discipline is frequently 
the highest expression of love. Waiving aside the de- 
bate as to the value of spanking children, one might point 
out that it is a poor parent who would not prevent, by 
force if necessary, his child from injuring another child. 
But, in the second place, it is a very weak form of piety 
which in cases of wrongdoing is interested only in the 
moral state of the offender. The law of-love must take 
into consideration his victims as well. Surely that man is 
no follower of Jesus who would calmly stand by and see 
innocent lives starved and maimed because of a special 
interpretation of the great injunction to resist not evil. 





™ John 18: 22. 
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Tue MESSAGE OF JESUS 


LL 


The policemen who protect a sleeping city are doing a 
service that Jesus would commend. 

All this merely goes to show that in some circum- 
stances love may involve compulsion. But the danger to 
most of us is not in this direction. For every pacifist 
among us there are ten who use arguments like these 
to cover all sorts of retaliation and revenge. Because of 
the need of social restraint on wrongdoers we allow penal 
systems that are purely punitive and vindictive. They 
can only be justified from a Christian standpoint if they 
are reformatory and educative as well as protective. 
Because it appears to us that force sometimes may be 
right, we go to war and preach hatred of the enemy— 
hatred which Jesus said no Christian in any circumstances 
can ever entertain. Actually we have very nearly denied 
this whole application of Jesus’ teaching of love, and 
justified our denial first by silence and secondly by argu- 
ments which do not really apply to the actual case. No 
phase of Jesus’ teaching needs more emphasis to-day in 
the Christian Church than this simple thought, “Thou 
shalt love thine enemy.” Instead of resistance and retalia- 
tion when we are injured, he declared that we should love 
our enemies and be able to pray for those who despitefully 
use us. Love—and no action not controlled by love— 
what a revolution that would mean in our personal and 
social dealings! Is it unreasonable to demand that? Then 
the whole Christian message is unreasonable, for non- 
retaliation is but another way of expressing real forgive- 
ness, and forgiveness is simply the heart of Jesus’ com- 
mand of love. 

There is a second objection frequently brought against 
Jesus’ teaching of forgiveness which we can only touch 


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upon. It is charged that this whole thought of non- 
retaliation is weak, contemptible, and even wrong, because 
it feeds and encourages evil. Resistance of wrong, it is 
declared, is the great virtue which this world needs. 
Jesus’ teaching, it is claimed, by exalting passive sub- 
mission, makes a virtue of weakness, and it is appreciated 
only by those who are unable to offer effective resistance 
to the marauder. All of us have probably met in one 
form or another such criticisms of Christianity. They 
are best known in the writings of the German philosopher 
of a generation ago, Friedrich Nietzsche, whose doctrine 
of the “super-man” was so influential. 

To all this there is one clear and convincing reply. The 
criticism overlooks part of Jesus’ teaching. It was not 
merely passive, merely submissive. On the contrary, 
no one ever called men to a conquest and elimination of 
evil so vigorously as did he. Only—and here is the vital 
point—Jesus believed that there was just one way to 
overcome evil and that was by goodness. Hate, he said, 
cannot be destroyed by revenge, even the sort of revenge 
that claims the adjective “righteous.” The wrong heart is 
only transformed by goodness, a goodness which, we must 
always remember, goes to the point of real forgiving. 
“If a man take away thy coat”—Jesus did not say, “Let 
him have it.” He said, “Give him thy cloak as well”—1. ¢., 
destroy that evil will by creative goodness. If a man 
impress you into service to carry his goods one mile, go 
a second mile. If you are struck on the cheek, do not 
slink away in shamefaced endurance, but turn the other 
cheek until the very desire to strike melts out of the heart 
of the ruffian. Such service as that is not weak sub- 
mission, but calls for the strongest natures. It does not 


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accept but sets out to destroy the evil from which it 
has suffered, and to destroy it by the only effective 
weapons. It calls for strength, determination, heroism, 
not for cowardice and weakness. 

2. I turn now to the second great field in which 
Jesus said love should be applied. The first was for- 
giveness of enemies; the second is humanitarian service. 
True and genuine love of men and women seeks to min- 
ister to their needs. The accident of race, the social status 
of the unfortunate one, the religious affiliation of the per- 
son—these things have nothing to do with Christian 
service. No religion can claim Jesus as its leader that 
does not set itself to minister, and this, not in order to 
make converts, but to help life. It is a waste of space for 
us to give evidence of this thought of Jesus. It is found 
on practically every page of the gospel story. He con- 
stantly exhorted his hearers to give alms, this being the 
primary channel of helpfulness in the simple conditions 
of Palestinian life. Indeed, so important is this loving 
ministry to the unfortunate that in Matthew 6: 1, 2, alms- 
giving is chosen as the first illustration of that in which 
one’s “righteousness” consists. It is a righteousness which 
he repeatedly said receives reward from the Father that 
seeth in secret. The story of the Good Samaritan, plus 
Jesus’ own example, has made care of the sick one of the 
special objects of Christian ministry. Notice that in Jesus’ 
thought all such ministry is good for its own sake, simply 
because it makes happier living. It needs no other justifi- 
cation. True love in the heart finds no other course pos- 
sible. Lovely deeds of service—these are the true “Church 
History” far more than the record of creedal debates and 
changes in organization. 


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But it is not enough merely to perform acts of philan- 
thropy on occasions when the distress of fellow humans 
thrusts itself on our attention. Love—the love of Jesus— 
is positive, seeks the good of others, is a passion for 
human joy and happiness. One with such an outlook on 
life will not be content to wait as a servant on human 
misery when it is possible in so many cases to anticipate 
and avert it. Prevention is better than cure. It was good 
to help a slave, but better to abolish slavery. It was splen- 
did to minister to a woman whom society regarded as the 
property of a brutal husband, but better to denounce and 
destroy the whole system which makes women chattels. 
Christian love is not negative, mending the broken human- 
ity left beside the road by the rapacious. It includes 
others besides the man the Samaritan helped, and it will 
rid the road of those thieves. Herein is the dynamic of 
Christian statesmanship, that would save so much of 
life by changing the way in which our social machine 
operates. It will be no less anxious to remedy evils 
that ought <iot to have happened, to visit the sick and the 
imprisoned, to feed the hungry and clothe the naked, but 
it will show its deepest love for humanity in removing 
the conditions which make men sick or drive them into 
crime, and in insuring enough for proper clothing and 
food to those who labor with their hands. 

In our highly complex modern life it has come about 
that much of such work has to be done by special organ- 
izations skilled in their particular tasks. We cannot 
always serve best with our own hands or through our 
church organizations. The multiplication of such special 
agencies is likely to make us feel that activities of famine 
relief, or medical assistance, or the education of backward 


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communities, is outside the scope of our specified task 
as Christian men and women. Let us not allow ourselves 
to be deluded, but claim all such activities that are 
genuinely serving the needs of the world as specific appli- 
cations of the Christian spirit and practical means of 
carrying out Jesus’ task. For they serve humanity, and 
Christian love rejoices in and claims as its own every 
endeavor to make life better. 

3. There is a third field in which Christian love will 
show itself ; namely, in evangelism in its truest sense. The 
Christian view of life would not be entirely satisfied if 
some philanthropic scheme should succeed in banishing 
physical pain entirely from the earth. It would rejoice 
in such a result, it would do all it could to further such a 
cause, it would never take the position of offering an 
opposite ideal of endeavor or perpetuating the existence 
of suffering. But while Jesus fed the poor, his aim was 
not merely to make full stomachs. He healed disease, 
but he was interested in something higher than developing 
athletes. He even called men to persecution, suffering, 
and death—not for the value of these things, but for the 
sake of something higher than mere contentment and ease. 

A wise parent realizes that there are greater things than 
physical comfort and will sometimes sacrifice this for 
higher objects. Affection that pets and pampers is either 
feeble or unintelligent. Jesus’ love for humanity made 
him sensitive to the highest values of life and made him 
desire to give these even at the expense of stern self- 
discipline. He wanted to realize in each man the divinity 
of soul latent in all. It is not enough that men should be 
made happy ; they should also be made loving. It is better 
for men to be good than to be prosperous. To provoke 


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others to love is a greater task for the Christian spirit 
than to minister to their physical wants. That inner state 
which Jesus called “life” he was accustomed to declare of 
more value than all temporal blessings and more to be 
sought than these. To lead men to love God and their 
neighbors as themselves is the highest gift of all. Hence 
the place of primary importance that true evangelism has 
always had in the Christian Church. 

Only it must be remembered that true evangelization 
consists in the vital transformation of the inner life of 
the person. It is not identical with church membership. 
It may require a long process of education to produce in 
the heart of that individual the flower of Christian love. 
It may require the combined influence of many factors 
and many experiences. In the case of foreign missions, 
for example, it will certainly demand a new type of for-— 
eign policy on the part of the Christian governments of 
the world, one that will show forth the finest Christian 
tolerance and charity. 

And here again, just as in the case of humane service, 
positive Christian love will be interested in obviating the 
growth of evil as well as in converting it. Just as Chris- 
tians must study how to prevent sickness and poverty, 
so they should study the conditions most favorable to 
goodness and try to make them reign in the world. For 
surely, if we have learned anything, it is the power of 
environment for evil and for good. The hindrances to 
kindly feeling in any community ought to be of primary 
interest to evangelical Churches. Those hindrances are 
usually easily recognizable; frequently they are known in 
advance, memories of injustices and wrongs, resentments 
over unfairnesses in social dealings, commercialization of 


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youth’s amusement, flagrant temptation to lust. The 
destructive work of these is obvious. Surely evangeliza- 
tion involves the removal of such corrupting influences. 

But while these and other efforts are part of the process, 
they must not make us lose sight of the real objective. 
The highest and final task of religion is a transformation 
of the inner being by which one is released from all bond- 
age to the world. To walk amid circumstances and yet 
be above them, to live in the midst of change and destruc- 
tion and yet be conscious of a destiny, to be at home in 
the world and yet find one’s true kinship with God who 
is a Spirit, that is the real meaning of religion. “Blessed 
are the pure in spirit: for they shall see God,’ “Blessed 
are the peacemakers: for they shall be called the sons of 
God”—such sayings point to the goal. To create this 
inner life of fellowship with God is the final task of the 
loving spirit. 

All this is the application to practice of Jesus’ teaching 
of love. It is a world task and a life devotion. 


QUESTIONS FOR REVIEW AND DISCUSSION 


1. Why did Jesus give no list of rules for Christian be- 
havior? How would you answer the objection that “the law of 
love” is too indefinite, too general, and too subjective? 

2. Which of two people is the better, one who does right 
from a sense of duty, or one who does so naturally or in- 
stinctively? Which kind of goodness did Jesus desire to see in 
his followers? 

3. What are the reasons which make forgiveness such an 
important Christian virtue? 

4. Can punishment ever make a person loving? Is punishment 
ever justifiable, and if so on what grounds? 

5. Is there any difference between arresting a criminal and 


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going to war with a nation whose leaders we feel to have acted 
wrongly? 

6. How would you answer the charge that the teaching of 
Jesus advises submission to evil, whereas the duty of every man 
is to oppose evil? 

7. What do you consider to be the most outstanding obliga- 
tions and opportunities before your local Church in the field of 
social service? What should be the motive and objective of 
this service? 

8. What is evangelism? Suggest some of the many means by 
which it may accomplish its work. 


130 


CHAPTER VIII 


THE CHRISTIAN DISPOSITION—HUMILITY, 
SINCERITY, HEROISM 


Tue Christian character is comprehended by the life 
of love: that was the thought that ran through the last 
chapter. There are, however, certain other traits which 
Jesus so stressed that they demand separate treatment, 
even though they are implications of, or closely related 
to, the spirit of love. 

I. First there is humility. Most of us do not admire 
humility. The word calls to mind monks in hair shirts 
performing acts of penance. Or else it makes us think 
of Dickens’ Uriah Heep. Super-men who dominate the 
scene are the ones who have our admiration. Accordingly 
this is one of the elements in Jesus’ teaching which is con- 
sistently minimized, or at any rate confined purely to 
the religious sphere. 

But Jesus did admire the humble spirit. The parable of 
the Pharisee and the publican we have already mentioned.* 
If he had given nothing else but that one story, there would 
be no doubt as to his attitude in this respect. But there 
are numerous other sayings or parables which convey the 
same thought. | 

There is the parable given in Luke 17:7 f. of the 
servants who, after a day of plowing in the fields, are 
not invited to sit down and eat, but who must labor further, 
preparing and serving the meal to their lord. It leads 


*Luke 18:9. 
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up to the verse at its close, “Even so ye also, when ye 
shall have done all the things that are commanded you, 
say, We are unprofitable servants.” Quite evidently the 
point of this parable is the same as the one above, that 
Jesus’ hearers should forget their accomplishments and 
their virtues and continue to serve in humbleness of spirit. 

Again there is a saying which Luke warns us we must 
not take literally for it is a parable: “And he spake a 
parable unto them. . . . When thou art bidden of any man 
to a marriage feast, sit not down in the chief seat . . . but 
go and sit down in the lowest place; that when he that hath 
bidden thee cometh, he may say to thee, Friend, go up 
higher: then thou shalt have glory in the presence of all 
that sit at meat with thee.” ? That is deft but kindly satire 
on the forward, pushing, self-assertive spirit. 

The injunction, “Whosoever shall exalt himself shall be 
humbled, and whosoever shall humble himself shall be 
exalted,’ occurs three times in our Gospel records.2 A 
fourth time we have, ““Whosoever shall humble himself as 
this little child the same is the greatest in the kingdom of 
God.” * The similar statement, “Behold many of the first 
shall be last, and the last shall be first,” occurs four times. 
These were evidently habitual phrases with which Jesus 
kept emphasizing this thought which he felt so important. 
In the Beatitudes one finds “Blessed are the meek,” and 
“Blessed are the poor in spirit,” in both of which this 
quality is contained. And toward the close of the Sermon 
on the Mount he exhorts men to humility in one of the 
strongest of all his figures of speech: “Judge not, that 


*Luke 14:7 f. 
* Matthew 23:12; Luke 14:11; and 18: 14. 
“Matthew 18: 4. 


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ye be not judged. For why beholdest thou the mote that 
is in thy brother’s eye, but considerest not the beam 
that is in thine own eye? Thou hypocrite!” ® 

In the light of all this (and other passages of like 
import) we are driven to ask, Why does Jesus so empha- 
size humility? We have not generally regarded it as so 
important. 

The answer goes back in part, no doubt, to historical 
factors.© The religion of the Pharisees with which Jesus 
was surrounded accomplished much good, but it also 
tended to produce a kind of spiritual pride. The piety to 
which his hearers were accustomed lacked too frequently 
the elements of meekness and modesty. We remember 
Jesus’ pointed injunction to the disciples, “Take heed that 
ye do not your righteousness before men, to be seen of 
them.” * Accordingly, when he spoke of goodness as 
requisite for entering into the kingdom, he had to insist 
that what he meant was not like that. We may well sup- 
pose that had not the religious leaders of the day been of 
this type, it would not have been so necessary for Jesus to 
keep insisting on this particular virtue. 

Yet, while this may be true as a matter of emphasis, it 
must not be carried to the point of denying the vital place 
that humility plays in Jesus’ thought. It needs nothing 
external to support it. The humble spirit he declared 
to be one of life’s basic qualities. 

This was in the first place simply because of the innate 
fineness of Jesus’ own spirit. He himself shrank from 





° Matthew 7: 1-5. 

* Cf. the discussion of Humility in Scott, The Ethical Teaching 
of Jesus. 

"Matthew 6: 1. 


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all ostentation and pretense. When a woman of the multi- 
tude shouted out an extravagant compliment to him, he 
deftly turned it off to all those who do the will of God.® 
He refused on one occasion to be called good, declaring 
that only God was good.® He made no open claim to the 
Messiahship, but waited for the disciples to come to their 
own conclusions concerning him.?° The self-assertive atti- 
tude of the man in the parable who seized the chief place 
at the feast was repugnant to the whole disposition of 
Jesus. I am not sure that he was “meek and mild,” as 
the familiar hymn would say, but in him there was abso- 
lutely nothing of that unblushing braggadocio which we 
see so frequently posing as self-confidence. His teaching 
against self-exaltation goes back first of all to this fine 
quality in his own nature. He could not think in any 
other terms. 

But in the second place Jesus insisted on humility be- 
cause, as we have pointed out, he thought of goodness as 
necessarily progressive and there can be no progress 
without the humble spirit. A sense of inadequacy and a 
consciousness of one’s need—without such there is no 
desire for better things. The principle is true in the 
realm of the intellect as well as that of morals. We don’t 
ordinarily think of Jesus’ teaching about humility when 
we say that a feeling of necessity is the mother of inven- 
tion, but the principle is the same. One must realize one’s 
deficiencies, else the way is barred. And especially is 
this true in the moral realm. The person sure of his own 
excellence is not likely to hunger and thirst after righteous- 


®Luke 11:27 f. Mark 8:29. 
° Mark 10: 18. 


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ness. This was one of the lessons that Paul learned in his 
missionary work, and it accounts for his constantly re- 
iterated exhortation to his converts not to think of 
themselves more highly than they ought to think. 

Closely related to this is a second fundamental prin- 
ciple of Jesus’ thought which has already been touched 
upon. He said that the goal of life is nothing less than 
to be perfect, even as God is perfect. With that ideal 
flung out before one, no other attitude is possible. Before 
that divine standard, humility is simply honesty with one- 
self, for in the sight of such an ideal even the noblest 
characters recognize their own poverty. To live in the 
sight of God, to seek his approval instead of the admira- 
tion of men—there follows from such a life and such a 
standard that unassuming spirit that we associate with 
the idea of saintliness. We mentioned in an earlier chap- 
ter that paradox of the Christian life, that the finest spirits 
are always farthest from self-appreciation and self-praise. 
The reason is this of which we are now speaking, that 
they look forward to the possibilities of life and not 
backward to what they may have done. In the light of 
such an ideal as Jesus set forth, why boast our slight 
superiority over our neighbors? Are we not all sinners, 
even as the Galileans whom Pilate killed, or the men in 
Jerusalem on whom the tower fell? ?? 

So examined, we see that Jesus’ teaching on humility 
is not a demand for self-abasement, but a challenge to 
greatness of life. It is because he would have us look 
upward that he said, “Blessed are the meek.” Christian 


™ Romans 12:3, 12: 16, 11:20, etc. 
* Luke 13: 2-5. 


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humility is based on aspiration rather than despair— 
aspiration combined with honesty. The eye is on ahead. 
It does not say, “I abase myself,” but rather with St. Paul, 
“TI have not yet apprehended.” It is the foil to a deep, 
true self-respect. It knows in the personal realm not to 
cast that which is holy unto the dogs. It does not give 
the pearls of one’s inner life unto the irreverent and 
brutal, lest they trample them under feet. But it sees 
clearly our own shortcomings and feels deeply our per- 
sonal need. From the root of such humility there come 
the loveliest flowers, modesty, sympathy, charity of spirit, 
aspiration for the ideal, constant gratitude for the goodness 
of God. 


II 


The second of these traits is sincerity. This is also 
primary with Jesus. The idea conveyed by the word 
appears and reappears in almost every phase of his teach- 
ing. Absolute honesty of life, conformity of the outer 
deed with the inner spirit—that is to Jesus essential for 
the life of God’s kingdom. In the above pages we have 
already had occasion to see the vital place that sincerity 
occupies. Thus we saw that righteousness cannot consist 
in an act which does not fully represent the intent of the 
heart. Or, to say the same thing in other words, sincerity 
is an element that enters into all goodness. So also we 
saw two paragraphs above that Christ’s emphasis on 
humility could be traced back in part to this thought, 
honesty with oneself in the face of an absolute ideal. 
Everywhere, in all his dealings, this demand for frank- 
ness, candor, sincerity comes out. “Take heed that ye | 
do not your righteousness before men, to be seen of them, 


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else ye have no reward.” *? “When thou doest alms, let 
not thy left hand know what thy right hand doeth” #4*— 
lest ever an insincere motive creep in to spoil the goodness 
of the need. “When thou prayest, enter into thy inner 
chamber,’ ?° and, “When thou fastest, anoint thy head, 
and wash thy face; that thou be not seen of men to fast, 
but of thy Father which is in secret.” +® In such specific 
and even extreme illustrations he tried to make his hearers 
catch his own contempt for insincerity of act as well as of 
word. His worst epithet was the terrible, “Thou hypocrite !” 

He expressed the idea in all sorts of ways that his 
disciples and the attending multitude might get the mean- 
ing and feel its charm. Sometimes it was in figures from 
nature insisting upon this conformity of the inner and 
the outer life: “Make the tree good, and its fruit good; 
or make the tree corrupt, and its fruit corrupt; for the 
tree is known by its fruit.” +7 Sometimes it was in con- 
crete application to problems of everyday life. 

One of the most interesting of these was the occasion 
when Jesus spoke about swearing. “Ye have heard that 
it was said to them of old, Thou shalt not forswear thy- 
self, but shall perform unto the Lord thine oaths: But I 
say unto you, Swear not at all . . . but let your speech 
be, Yea, yea; Nay, nay: and whatsoever is more than these 
is evil.” 78 What was wrong with swearing? That it used 
certain syllables of religious speech? Not at all, said 
Jesus. Swearing is wrong whether it be done with the 
words “heaven” or “earth” or “Jerusalem” or even with 
your own “head.” The wrong was in the whole system 


* Matthew 6:1. *% Matthew 6: 17. 
* Matthew 6: 3. ™ Matthew 12: 33. 
* Matthew 6: 6. * Matthew 5: 33 f. 


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of degrees of truthfulness implied by oaths. That the 
plain statement was not to be trusted, that the assertion 
backed by an oath was more trustworthy, that the use of 
certain more sacred terms would make the utterance more 
dependable, this was what Jesus wanted to sweep away. 
Oriental bargaining, like western bargain driving, daily 
would illustrate this loose attitude toward truth. On the 
contrary, said Jesus, let all speech be the very truth. The 
distinction currently recognized between statements sworn 
to and those not so supported should be absolutely 
abolished. Simple yea should mean yea, for deceit and 
hypocrisy are basic sins. 

One does not need to elaborate the constituent character 
of this principle of honesty in any attempt at high char- 
acter. There are two or three points which might well be 
stressed, however. In the first place we must remember 
that sincerity with Jesus is not so much telling the truth 
about facts of experience as it is candidly expressing in 
speech and deed our own real self. Remember that it is 
not the “common liar’ whom Jesus condemns so fre- 
quently, but the dissembler, the hypocrite, the man who 
pretends to be other than he really is. This kind of 
dishonesty he regarded as the grossest and most dangerous 
sin; for it strikes at the possibility of repentance and 
reformation. That is the vicious thing about pretense; 
it 1s so very self-deceptive. Take, for example, the case 
that Jesus once spoke of, the hypocrites who sound a 
trumpet before themselves in the synagogues or in the 
streets preparatory to giving alms, “that they may have 
glory of men.’”’?® There was no love of mankind in their 


” Matthew 6: 2. 
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hearts; they suffered no intensity of sympathy on seeing 
the helpless and the needy. Nothing in the inner life 
corresponded to this show of philanthropy and hence it 
was far from winning the approval and reward of a 
“Father who seeth in secret.” But it did win public ap- 
plause and commendation. Men said of such a man that 
he was worthy and noble and generous. And so the 
intense danger of the man contenting his better nature 
with this counterfeit goodness, this substitute for true 
charity and benevolence. A pretense at goodness is fear- 
fully dangerous, for sooner or later it is likely to make 
the man self-satisfied and complacent even in his selfish- 
ness and hardness, convinced that he is a good and 
righteous person. Hence the necessity of looking oneself 
squarely in the face; for without this there is little chance 
of moral progress. This is why Jesus so bitterly de- 
nounced the hypocritical selfishness of the Pharisees, men 
who claimed to be religious leaders of the people, while 
the frankly avaricious class of publicans drew no such 
special condemnation. Selfishness frankly and openly 
admitted gives more grounds for hope than selfishness 
that pretends that it is interested solely in religious service. 
Honesty of life is a basic virtue. 

But when one reads the Gospels one has the feeling, 
I think, that this insistence on honesty with Jesus is not 
so much on a particular virtue as it is on a certain dis- 
position, on a kind of character rather than on a trait or 
department of morals. One feels that what Jesus aimed 
at was that luminous, open disposition that instantly 
attracts. There is something repelling about the person 
who never gives you the impression that he is being quite 
sincere. Those who are frank and candid draw our 


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love, assuming, of course, that the personality thus re- 
vealing itself is one of virtue. When one looks at the 
various sayings which we have collected under this head- 
ing, the condemnation of hypocrisy, the injunction to let 
yea be yea and nay be nay, the warning about our being 
judged by our idle words, the saying, ‘“Make the tree good 
and its fruit good,” the conviction grows that it is this 
larger type of sincerity which he has in mind and not 
merely the virtue of honesty as it is commonly understood. 
And this leads on to a statement to which we will return 
—one amply justified, however, by what we have already 
noted, that after all, Jesus did not so much enjoin various 
virtues as a certain quality of life, a life in which the 
several virtues merge into and unite with one another. 


III 


The third trait is courage. What has been said 
thus far shows one thing very clearly, that the demand 
of Jesus’ message was no easy thing. It was radically 
different from our halfway measures. He called men to 
enter the kingdom of God, to find a new life in devotion 
to God’s purposes. But that call demands giving up all 
selfish interests and hopes, which means for most of us 
practically all that we hold dear. Not only so, but it 
involves, as no one saw more clearly than Jesus, facing 
the opposition of those who hold the power in this world. 
He called his disciples to no less a task than the elimina- 
tion of evil in the world; and that means, without any 
shadow of question, the organized antagonism and per- 
sonal hatred of those who wish to hold to that evil. Ac- 

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cordingly, the discipleship of Jesus is not for the weak 
and afraid. It does not simply urge heroism—it de- 
mands it. 

In two ways it puts a premium on the element of 
courage and daring. First, in that it implies the sacrifice 
of all of the selfish aims of life for the sake of that 
which is felt to be nobler. It involves for the individual 
what appears to be a tremendous risk. Physical enjoy- 
ment, power used selfishly, egoism in its various mani- 
festations—all these we see to be immediately satisfying. 
Are we to renounce all these, throw away the progress 
we have made toward attaining them, and follow an ideal 
of life unselfishly lived? That involves the greatest 
personal risk. It means trusting in our sense of value 
to the point of renouncing what most men have sought 
for generations. Dare we do that? Have we the power 
of resolution, a sense of daring and courage great enough ? 

We are all familiar with two types of temperament. 
One is cautious, conservative, releases no present good 
until a better is already in hand, is unwilling to take great 
chances, is afraid to turn loose the things it has known 
for the sake of something new. Its stirrings of soul 
have been trained to do nothing radical. It will not 
countenance a break with the old order of things either 
socially or personally. It is the type of mind that has 
become encrusted, bound within narrow confines by inhi- 
bitions and fears. It is incapable of a complete and radical 
decision. The other type of temperament is the sort one 
sees on a battle field when youth, full of strength and 
hope, throws itself into the jaws of death for the sake 
of something believed to be fine and splendid. That 


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spirit dares and risks, hazards the present for the sake 
of what is to be, sees the ideal as worth all the sacrifice, 
is free from inner bondage and able to respond to the 
appeal of the highest. That is the spirit that breaks 
new ground, that leads boldly. It is pathetic that we 
think of it usually as being confined to youth. 

This power and willingness to risk all for the sake of 
the highest good is demanded by the life of the kingdom. 
Jesus never thinks of men halting and hesitating between 
two aims. He has in mind men who have the courage 
to make a great decision. “No man putting his hand to the 
plow and looking back is fit for the kingdom of God,” 
he told them.?° He called to the disciples to leave their 
nets and come to a different kind of catching. “The king- 
dom of heaven is like unto a treasure hidden in a field; 
which a man found, and hid; and in his joy goeth and 
selleth all that he hath, and buyeth that field.” 72 Or again, 
it is “like unto a merchant seeking goodly pearls, and hav- 
ing found one pearl of great price, he went and sold all 
that he had, and bought it.” 7? The men in these parables 
had to be men not only of decision, but of confident cour- 
age. There runs throughout the teaching of Jesus the 
implication of just such qualities of daring in the moral 
realm as essential to citizenship in the kingdom. His 
whole conception of the life of the kingdom is based on the 
thought of decisions in which men and women “for joy” 
give up all lesser values for the sake of the ideal good. 
But that requires an heroic quality of life that men fail 


* Luke 9: 62. *® Matthew 13: 45 f. 
= Matthew 13: 44, 


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to see as one of the Christian demands because they have 
too often dulled the sharpness of that decision.” 

In the second place, Jesus knew that the life of the king- 
dom would not be one of public approval. Conflict was 
inevitable, He knew that from bitter personal experience 
as well as from the simple logic of life. For the life of 
which he spoke was to be one of loving service and devo- 
tion, and the conflict of that sort of living with the desires 
of those who profit by the ignorance and want of others 
was obvious. He called his handful of followers to the 
greatest venture ever launched, the destruction of all the 
powers of evil. “I came to cast fire upon the earth; 
and what will I, if it is already kindled? . . . Think ye 
that 1 am come to give peace upon the earth? I tell 
you, Nay; but rather division: For there shall be hence- 
forth five in one house divided, three against two, and 
two against three. They shall be divided father against 
son, and son against father; mother against daughter, and 
daughter against mother.” 74 “If any man would come 
after me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and 
follow me.”*° “But take heed to yourselves: for they 
shall deliver you up to councils; and in synagogues shall 
ye be beaten; and before governors and kings shall ye 





*It may be objected that this thought of a decision “once and 
for all” is in opposition to what was said in a previous chapter 
on progress in the life of the kingdom. The answer is that 
Jesus certainly thought of individuals as settling the ultimate 
aim or objective of life in a basic decision, but he did not 
think that thereby we became perfect. Obviously there will be 
habits to be brought into line, attitudes to be developed on the 
basis of love, graces of the spirit to be ever acquired, etc. 

* Luke 12: 49-53, 

Mark 8: 34. 


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THE MESSAGE OF JESUS 


stand for my sake. ... And ye shall be hated of all 
men for my name’s sake.” 7° He himself led the way. 
‘A disciple is not above his master, nor a servant above his 
lord. If they have called the master of the house Beelze- 
bub, how much more shall they call them of his house- 
hold.” 27. To one who expressed a willingness to follow 
him, Jesus had to reply that he must remember that the 
Son of Man had no place to lay his head.?8 He was called 
upon to endure privation, to face constant criticism and 
almost daily attack, to have treachery enter his intimate 
group of disciples, and finally to die on a hill outside the 
gates of Jerusalem. He well knew the result of loyalty to 
the kingdom. 

In the face of this inevitable conflict is it any occasion 
of surprise to find that Jesus placed emphasis on courage 
and strength of purpose? For courage is vital to the 
service of love that he intended. Without it, no matter 
how benevolent an individual may be, there will result 
only timidity and ineffectiveness. He had no use for the 
fearful and cowardly. He called only for great souls, 
or rather for those who would rise to the greatness of 
his challenge. Over and over again in the Gospels we 
read, “Fear not,” “Fear not.” When he said “love,” he 
did not mean weak sentimentality or a piety which rep- 
resents an escape from the hazards and ardors of life. 
It was a thing that had in it the strong passion of the old 
prophets of Israel, a zeal that counted no task too difficult 
and no stronghold of evil too powerful to be attacked. 


* Mark 13:9 f. * Luke 9: 58. 
* Matthew 10:24, 25. 


144 


pach ce be nai ie a Tl ad ELLE TSS SEE I RE 
THE MEssAGE oF JESUS 
i Ee 


In a Christian, weakness and fear are a sin; courage is a 
fundamental Christian virtue. 

But we must ask, What is the basis of this courage 
of which we have been speaking? Is it simply physical 
hardness, sheer bravado, or stoic fortitude that endures 
without complaint? Reckless courage that dares with- 
out ground or reason we rightly reckon to be wrong and 
foolish. Jesus had a very definite basis for the courage 
which he required. It goes back to his religious con- 
viction, to his belief in God as active and ruling in the 
universe. ; 

That Jesus did so think of God as actively working 
for righteousness we have already seen. How could one 
be afraid who realized that great fact? We are fellow- 
workers with God. The universe is on the side of 
righteousness. “If God be for us who can be against 
us ”’ *°that is the basis of Jesus’ strength. To his dis- 
ciples growing timid as to their powers of presenting their 
cause he declared, “It is not ye who speak, but the Spirit 
of your Father that speaketh in you.” *° When they were 
dismayed at the ripeness of the harvest and the scarcity 
of workers, he reminded them of God’s part in the work, 
“Pray ye therefore the Lord of the harvest, that he send 
forth laborers into his harvest.” *! God is actively at 
work for righteousness; we labor not in our strength 
alone—that is the way Jesus regarded the problem. “So 
is the kingdom of God as if a man should cast seed upon 
the earth; and should sleep and rise night and day, and the 
seed should spring up and grow, he knoweth not how. 


™ Romans 8: 31. 
* Matthew 10: 20. 
= Matthew 9:38 and Luke 10:2. 


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The earth beareth fruit of herself ; first the blade, then the 
ear, then the full corn in the ear.” *? 

And not only should men have courage and dismiss 
their fears because God is our helper and strength, but 
also because we may be absolutely sure of his ultimate 
victory. The mustard seed is tiny, but it grows into the 
great tree. The leaven is small in proportion, but it 
changes the whole lump. God not only rules, but he 
shall rule completely—that we have seen is the vital ele- 
ment in the thought of the future kingdom. “Fear not, 
little flock, for it is your Father’s good pleasure to give 
you the kingdom.” 8 

Herein is the source and ground of Jesus’ confidence 
and courage. We see again how his practical ethical 
teaching turns back to and rests upon his thought of 
God. We usually call this Jesus’ teaching of faith in 
God. He constantly urged greater faith upon his disci- 
ples. “If only ye had faith like a mustard seed!’ ** He 
saw that the chief bar to greatness of effort was that 
they did not have sufficient confidence in goodness, which 
is only another way of saying sufficient confidence in 
God. They did not and we do not really believe that 
goodness can be made real in life, that God’s kingdom 
is really coming. Hence we never let go of ourselves, 
we do not trust the issue. In the working of all his 
miracles of healing Jesus saw this constantly illustrated. 
Belief that the good could and would happen was in- 
dispensable. “Have faith in God,” that was an attitude 


*™ Mark 4: 26f. 
Luke 12: 32. 
* Matthew 17:20 and Luke 17:6. 


146 





THe MESSAGE OF JESUS 





of life which was necessary for the release of the latent 
powers of one’s soul. 

There are other elements of this trust and faith in 
God which we shall have to reserve for later treatment. 
Just here the important thing to observe is that it is 
the foundation for that whole courageous activity of 
loving service to which Jesus called his hearers. 


QUESTIONS FOR DISCUSSION AND REVIEW 


1. What attitude is implied by Christian humility toward the 
faults of others? Toward one’s own virtues? Does Christian 
humility mean an unwillingness to accept responsibilities ? 

2. Show how the humble spirit is necessary in all scientific 
and scholarly work? What is the effect in these fields of the 
opposite spirit? 

3. What is sincerity? Wherein lies the grave danger of pre- 
tense and insincerity? 

4. State in your own words the two types of courage described 
in the text. What is the difference between Christian courage 
and recklessness? 

5. What is the foundation for the courage that Jesus de- 
manded? Compare it in this respect with Jesus’ definition of 
goodness. 

6. Discuss the relation of love, humility, sincerity and courage. 
Are they separate and distinct “virtues,” or do they demand each 
other’s presence for their own completion? 


147 


CHAPTER IX 


THE ‘CHRISTIAN: SPIRIT. IN VPRAGCTICR—= 
MONEY MATTERS 


Tuus far we have been discussing a number of gen- 
eral topics, the meaning of the kingdom, what is good- 
ness, the character of love, the necessity of sincerity, etc. 
As Jesus handled them, these were vivid and vital realities. 
Nevertheless, there is always a danger for us that they 
will remain general and abstract, “qualities” to be sought, 
rather than actual experiences which we shall relive daily. 
Because of this danger it will be well for us to consider 
certain very practical situations which people have always 
had to face, and to ask how Jesus taught that men should 
act in these circumstances and in the face of these prob- 
lems. The first of these which I have chosen is the ever- 
present problem of property. 

Money is more than a number of hard, cold pieces of 
metal. It is the command of food and clothing and houses 
and horses and pictures and boats and all other things 
that people crave. Many of these things are necessary 
for living; all of them bring comfort and ease and a cer- 
tain kind of satisfaction. So we constantly struggle to 
seize as much as possible of the stock of the world’s 
goods. In that struggle it is the familiar story that a few 
are outstandingly successful, and these make the rules 
for the continuation of the struggle. Thus custom and 
law come in to aid differences in natural ability in widen- 
ing the gap between rich and poor. In the United States, 


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THE MESSAGE OF JESUS 





for example, fifteen per cent of the people control eighty- 
five per cent of the wealth, and yet, being a new country, 
the wealth is more evenly distributed here than in most 
other lands. 


tf 


In Palestine, where Jesus lived, this contrast of wealth 
and poverty was very obvious. The New Testament bears 
testimony, the more eloquent because indirect, of the pres- 
ence of the poor. The ordinary food of Jesus’ hearers 
was bread and fish. Meat as food is not once mentioned in 
the Gospels!+ The poor are frequently mentioned. The 
number of very small coins which have been preserved 
from that period show the poverty of the majority of the 
people. The predominant occupations were agriculture 
and sheep raising, and poor soil combined with primitive 
processes of farming to give scanty crops. Add to all 
this the fact that the country had been drained for gen- 
erations by the taxations of foreign overlords. Still, in 
contrast to the multitudes of poor, there were people of 
wealth. Jesus watched “many rich” as they cast gifts 
into the treasury. Josephus and the Mishna both speak 
of wealthy officials and citizens. 

We must, moreover, remember that Jesus, living in 
this situation, was one of the laborers. He was in all 
probability the eldest son of a widowed mother and there 
were at least six children younger than himself. When 
he began his public work his followers were all men of 
limited means. At different times in his brief life he 
must have known the pressure of want. This was not 





Cf. Dickey: The Constructive Revolution of Jesus, p. 124. 
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Tue MEssaGE oF JESUS 





because there was not enough food and clothing to go 
around in Palestine, but because a few people had secured 
a disproportionate part of the supply. It would not be 
surprising then if we found Jesus addressing himself 
specifically to the economic problem which was acute 
then as now, denouncing the situation in Palestine and 
making proposals for a new system in which all in- 
justice would be done away. 

Just such a denunciation and such proposals many 
people think Jesus gave. “Christ was the first great 
socialist”; “Jesus was a revolutionist’”; “If anyone 
preached to-day as he did, he would be arrested’”’; “Chris- 
tianity was a vast economic revolution”; “The Sermon 
on the Mount is really a treatise on political economy’— 
these are only a few quotations expressing this convic- 
tion.? It is pointed out that he declared it more difficult 
for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for 
a rich man to enter the kingdom.* He told the rich 
young ruler, “If thou wouldst be perfect, go, sell all that 
thou hast, and give to the poor.’’* Does not this denounce 
wealth? He said, “Lay not up for yourselves treasures 
upon earth.” ® Does not that forbid private property? 
In Luke’s Gospel we read, “Blessed are ye poor!... 
Woe unto you rich!’’® There are several parables that 
point in the same direction, notably the parable of the rich 
man and Lazarus’ and the story of the rich man who said 
to his soul, “Take thine ease.” ® Finally we have in Luke 


* For a good collection of these see Peabody’s Jesus Christ and 
the Social Question, p. 63 ff. 


*Mark 10: 25. *Luke 6:20, 24. 
“Matthew 19: 21. "Luke 16: 19 f. 
* Matthew 6: 19. > Luke 12: 16f. 


150 


a 


Tue MESSAGE OF JESUS 


LT 


14: 33 the specific and sweeping injunction: “So therefore 
whosoever he be of you that renounceth not all that he 
hath, he cannot be my disciple.” That certainly seems to 
sweep away any Christian participation in the present 
economic system. 

Before passing to the discussion of this question, it will 
be instructive to notice that the exact opposite to this 
condemnation of wealth has frequently been presented 
as the teaching of Jesus—namely, that he offers ma- 
terial rewards and blessings to those who follow him. 
“Seek ye first his kingdom and his righteousness; and 
all these things shall be added unto you.’’® No man has 
left house, or brethren, or sisters, or mother ... or 
lands . . . for my sake, and the gospel’s sake, but shall 
receive a hundredfold now in this time, houses, and 
brethren, and sisters, and mothers, and lands with perse- 
cutions; and in the world to come eternal life.” *° These 
have been the texts for many an assertion that Chris- 
tianity brings material blessings to the faithful. Nothing 
better illustrates than these various views the vagueness 
and uncertainty of our knowledge of the mind of Jesus; 
nor could there be any better illustration of the necessity 
of studying each particular saying in the light of the 
whole tenor of his teaching. 

What did Jesus teach about money and possessions? 
He certainly did not carefully leave the subject alone 
and, as the phrase goes, “stick to religion.” Did he offer 
a new economic system on the grounds that love is in- 
compatible with private ownership and hence all such 
personal possessions should be given away? 





* Matthew 6: 33. ‘Mark 10: 29. 
151 





THE MESSAGE OF JESUS 





I think we may quickly dispose of this question. In 
spite of all the quotations given above which condemn 
wealth or praise poverty, we can safely say that Jesus 
was not opposed to private ownership, as such, or to the 
normal process of making a living. He himself earned 
a living in early life and probably supported by his 
toil his widowed mother and sisters and younger brothers. 
Later on, when he and his disciples traveled over Galilee 
and Judea, we are told that they had a money bag from 
which their frugal needs were met.1!_ Luke tells us further 
that there were certain women who at one time ministered 
to him and his disciples of their substance,!2 which fact 
would show, of course, that Jesus respected and used 
the private means of these devoted women. The homes 
of Peter in Capernaum and of Mary and Martha near 
Jerusalem he used both for his work and his rest, and 
there is no hint of a denunciation of such ownership of 
houses. But perhaps the most instructive passage is 
the story of Jesus and Zaccheus. This publican, in the 
enthusiasm of his new conviction, said, ‘Behold, Lord, the 
half of my goods I give to the poor; and if I have wrong- 
fully exacted aught of any man, I restore him fourfold.” % 
That Jesus had no objection to ownership as such is 
shown by his reply, “To-day is salvation come to this 
house,” although we notice that Zaccheus by no means 
gave away his entire fortune. As to the injunction to the 
rich young man to give away his fortune, its sequel shows 
that we -must not try to make it a universal rule. Jesus 
looked around and said, “How hardly shall they that 





* John 13: 29. 4 Luke 19:8. 
® Luke 8: 3. 


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have riches enter into the kingdom of God. ... With 
men it is impossible, but not with God.” 14 

All of which comes back to this: that love is not inp 
compatible with personal ownership. A home in which 
children are to be reared and parents protected, tools 
which make possible serviceable labor in the work of the 
world, clothing against the winter’s cold, and food for 
the day of famine—all these are in ordinary situations 
but the expression of a loving spirit. Jesus never de- 
nounced “taking thought for the morrow” in spite of 
the erroneous translation in Matthew 6:34 (a passage 
which should read as the Revised Version has it, “Be not 
anxious for the morrow”). He recognized in many a 
parable the value of honest work and he commended the 
care of aged parents and the love of little children. He 
was not so blind as to condemn the necessary method 
of expressing such love and care. 


IT 


‘What then was Jesus’ teaching on the subject of riches ? 
The number and character of his statements about riches 
and the rich show that he had deep convictions on the 
subject. What was his positive teaching in this realm 
that comes close home to us all? 

1. Jesus laid down the fundamental proposition that 
there must be no rival in the heart of the individual to 
the rule of God. He saw clearly how love of money 
tended to become the dominant desire of life. Men get in 
the race, and the competition for wealth makes its pur- 


* Mark 10: 23, 27. 
153 


Le 


Tue MESSAGE OF JESUS 


ee  ————————————— 


suit the more keen. The power which it brings makes 
it desirable even apart from the pleasant things it will 
purchase. Thus possessions begin to loom larger in our 
thought than obedience to the will of God. We think in 
mercenary terms, we crave material ends, we admire those 
who succeed in laying up riches. Thus, even uncon- 
sciously, the things of God come to take second place. 
Mammon—which is only the Aramaic word for riches 
—comes to be the object of worship. 

But there is no membership in the kingdom of God 
without singleness of heart. We have seen how abso- 
lutely fundamental this is with Jesus. There must be 
no compromise as to the aim of life. “No man can serve 
two masters: for either he will hate the one and love 
the other; or else he will hold to the one and despise 
the other. Ye cannot serve God and Mammon.” ** Why? 
Because serving God is a thing of the whole direction 
and dedication of the life, and the life cannot be dedicated 
to two different ultimate objectives. Unless that de- 
cision as to the aim of life be clearly faced, there will 
result ineffectiveness of effort, uncertainty of action, inner 
conflict and confusion. That wholeness of life in loving 
service becomes impossible. 

“Ye cannot serve God and Mammon.” Ye cannot 
serve God and any other competitive interest. The 
strongest statement of the fundamental principle Jesus 
gave not in connection with money matters; he chose 
instead—it must have been consciously—the noblest 
human devotion, love of family. “If any man cometh 
unto me, and hateth not his own father, and mother, and 





* Matthew 6: 24. 
154 


Ss etenessnesesenssersns 
THE MEssAGE oF JESUS 
(fee San a Lele AA Ua aE DS SEAL DEAS UN Md AOE 


wife, and children, and brethren, and sisters, yea, and his 
own life also, he cannot be my disciple.” 1° The meaning 
of this verse is clear. Not even the noblest devotion 
to this individual or this small group can be elevated 
above the demands of the kingdom. The words which 
follow in the text drive home that thought: “For which 
of you, desiring to build a tower, doth not first sit down 
and count the cost? . . . Or what king going to war doth 
not consider the force of his enemy? ... So therefore 
whosoever he be of you that renounceth not all that he 
hath, he cannot be my disciple.” 17 If love of parents, 
wife, and children must not come before devotion to the 
kingdom, is it any wonder that he refused to allow that 
primacy to the pursuit of wealth? “Seek ye first the 
kingdom of God’—nothing must come before that. 

This is the first principle in Jesus’ teaching on riches. 
And it was because he saw Mammon constantly usurping 
God’s place that he declared it to be such a danger to the 
soul. The man seeking wealth is likely to adopt what 
Professor Dickey has recently called “a rival salvation.” 18 
He comes to believe that his main satisfaction and secu- 
rity in life are to be obtained by wealth. He begins to 
trust in his money. The objects of his interest become 
material things. But “after all these things the Gentiles 
seek” —1. ¢., this is all paganism. The real source of trust 
and confidence should be God, and the main concern 
of life should be his will. The inadequacy and im- 


permanence of such trust in material things become 
CR ae he tral ta A OSS CORT RE I To Ne ee ea EY 

* Luke 14: 26. 

*Luke 14: 28-33. 

* Dickey: The Constructive Revolution of Jesus, p. 131. Iam 
indebted to Prof. Dickey throughout all this discussion. 


155 


ee eee 


Tue MESSAGE OF JESUS 


EEE ae 


clearly revealed in the hour of death. There was a rich 
man once who filled his barns to overflowing and said, 
“Soul, take thine ease.’’ But that night God said, “Thou 
foolish one, this night is thy soul required of thee.” 
And Jesus concluded the story with the warning, “So is 
everyone who lays up treasure for himself, and is not rich 
toward God.” 1° It was because he saw riches crowding 
out in so many instances that “richness toward God” that 
he felt the love of money to be such a danger to the 
soul. Not necessarily so, but actually he saw wealth in 
many cases making men arrogant and proud, self-confident 
and worldly-minded. 

2. So closely associated with the above as to make 
separate treatment difficult is a second principle which 
Jesus laid down. Seeking first the kingdom of God 
means, as we have seen, adopting an attitude of love 
toward our fellow-men. It assumes that men are more 
valuable than money, and that the claims of human be- 
ings must never be sacrificed for anything material. The 
first principle stated above might be put, The rule of 
God above riches; the second principle, Men are more 
valuable than money. 

Here again Jesus saw the pursuit of wealth as a special 
danger. The choice between personal profit and greater 
service to humanity is one that tests character most se- 
verely. There is an adage strangely familiar in Christian 
America—I dare say we have all heard it—“Every man 
for himself, and the devil take the hindermost.” It is 
the exact antithesis of Jesus’ “He that is greatest among 
you shall be the servant of all.’ To extract a purely 
EN PRON a ROP RU ae LT 

* Luke 12: 16-21. 

156 





THE MESSAGE OF JESUS 





personal profit from human need, a profit that in no way 
returns in further service, is quite obviously unchristian. 
And yet the process goes on all around us. To quote 
Professor Dickey again, “The whole business of laying 
up money in the midst of human need, Jesus implies, 
corrupts the soul.” The Christian spirit declares that 
human values are above all monetary returns, and it will 
gladly sacrifice a chance for fortune on behalf of the 
health, happiness, and spiritual development of the men 
and women affected by the occupation. The law of supply 
and demand is no answer to the questions raised by a 
Christian conscience. Nor is a lawyer’s opinion on the 
legality of a certain course of action. A corner on the 
wheat market, a reduction in the production of life’s ne- 
cessities in order to increase the price, such control of the 
tools of production that laborers are made to compete 
with each other for the chance to work—these and other 
practices may be legal, but they put money above the lives 
of the men and women who suffer from them. The 
practical application of this principle means that the first 
question a Christian should ask would be not, ““How much 
will the profit be?” but “How will this affect the lives 
of the men and women and children related to this busi- 
ness or this profession?” 

This conception of the unique value of human life is 
fundamental with Jesus. It goes back to his teaching 
that all men are the objects of the divine love. “The hairs 


of your head are numbered, fear not therefore.” ‘How 
much then is a man of more value than a sheep!” “Be- 
hold the birds of the heaven! . . . Your heavenly Father 


feedeth them. Are ye not of more value than they?” In 
all of these sayings the unique worth of human beings 


157 





THE MESSAGE OF JESUS 





is clearly in mind. They are the objects of the love and 
care of God. Beware then of injuring them for the 
sake of some material consideration! “Whosoever shall 
cause one of these little ones that believe to stumble, it were 
better for him if a great millstone were hanged about his 
neck and he were cast into the sea.” *° 

And yet for the sake of money Jesus saw men con- 
stantly crippling and starving their fellows. Not only 
the acquisition of it, but its centralization in a few hands, 
is likely to prove a temptation. We are accustomed to 
say that great wealth is good neither for the possessor 
nor for the dependent poor. Mastery over the lives and 
fortunes of others, which wealth involves, is a grave re- 
sponsibility. The danger is that it will breed hardness 
of spirit and lack of sympathy. On the other hand, those 
made dependent are likely to become bitter and resentful. 
The “class struggle,” which seesns almost inevitably to 
spring up, arrays both groups against each other. In the 
conflict the rights of men as such, the generous emo- 
tions of both parties, are likely to be wiped out, and 
hatred and antagonism take their place. No wonder that 
Jesus saw in avarice a vital danger to the soul. “Take 
heed that ye keep yourselves from all covetousness, for a 
man’s life consisteth not in the abundance of things that 
he possesseth” *4—that word comes to us in the midst 
of our modern economic strife, calling to us to disarm. 
We are blind; we are fighting for the wrong things. Pos- 
sessions are not the primary aim of life. The true values 
are love, peace, cooperation, friendship, the joy of labor, 
a sense of mission. The kingdom of God is brother- 


™ Matthew 18:6. ™ Luke 12: 15. 
158 


A AN 
THE MEsSAGE OF JESUS 
SESS 


hood. Property must always be subordinated to the rights 
of personality. This principle is so far-reaching that we 
have only just begun to appreciate its significance. In the 
mind of Jesus there are no property rights that can stand 
against the value of persons. 

3. We might add a third principle in Jesus’ teaching 
on wealth: that all occupations and professions should be 
carried on from the motive of public service, and not 
solely from the motive of personal profit. That is, of 
course, but another phase of the principle of love dis- 
cussed above. But its application to the economic world 
has never been made. So regarded, no business would 
be run for its owners only, but to supply the needs of 
the community; no farmer would plow for his small 
financial gain, but to feed a hungry world; no doctor 
or lawyer would practice for himself alone, but to heal 
and help those in distress. So regarded, every task be- 
comes sacred. With such ideals, work is a precious thing 
and must not be applied to endeavors that do not minister 
to the physical or spiritual needs of men. Even the hum- 
blest task so regarded has its own glory. There are no 
“respected occupations” except those which serve the 
more. “He who would be greatest must become the 
minister of all.” 2? 

These are the positive principles that Jesus would apply 
to economics. He had no neat scheme of economic re- 
form. This is shown by his refusal on two occasions to 
take the role of financial legislator. They came to him 
on one occasion and asked about the right of Rome to 


“Mark 10:44; Matthew 20:27; Luke 9: 48 etc. 
159 





THE MESSAGE OF JESUS 





collect taxes.2* He refused to be drawn into a definition 
of the limits of Church and State, or the rights of the 
State in the economic sphere. On the other occasion, a 
man came asking that Jesus compel his brother to divide 
an inheritance fairly.2* Here was his chance surely, if 
he had wished to set up the specific rules of how prop- 
erty should change hands and how wealth should be 
divided! Instead, his reply went behind the details of 
the case to the motive which he saw was in the man’s 
heart and which was far worse than any injustice he 
had received in the division of the estate: “Man, who 
made me a judge or a divider over you? And he said, 
Take heed and keep yourselves from all covetousness.” 
He steadily refused to become a lawmaker or economic 
expert. 

Yet these three principles cry out against any system or 
practice that exalts wealth above humanity, that makes the 
desire for selfish profit the foundation of the economic 
order. They are more needed to-day than they were 
in Palestine then, because we have organized life so that 
we do not see the results of many of our actions and can- 
not count on natural kindness and generosity to the degree 
that was possible when most transactions were face to 
face and carried results which were immediately visible. 


III 
But if these principles be given the right of way, 
I think we may say that so far as Jesus was concerned 


* Mark 12: 14. “Luke 12:13. 
160 





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the question of wealth becomes an indifferent one. He 
had no class prejudice. We find him dining with wealthy 
Pharisees as well as with the poor and the outcasts. As 
already remarked, at least one of the women who minis- 
tered unto him of their substance was a woman of promi- 
nence, and all of them were evidently people of com- 
petence if not actually wealthy. Jesus emphasized 
personality and not possessions. A certain centurion 
he praised as having more faith than had. been found 
in Israel, quite irrespective of his being a person put in 
authority and rich enough to have “given a synagogue 
unto our people.” ?° On the other hand, the incident of 
the widow who cast her mite into the treasury is instruc- 
tive. The size of the donations did not excite him. It 
was the personal expression that went into the gift. This 
is the principle that runs through his teaching on wealth. 
Jesus thus spiritualized the whole economic problem. 
Money, property, and the like are but tools or imple- 
ments of useful living, but the vital thing is the kind 
of personality, the character of life which uses them, and 
the effect that use has on other lives. The spirit of man 
and its claims must take Prsopence over all material 
considerations. 

Wealth used according to the control of these prin- 
ciples becomes indifferent to the owner as well. It ceases 
to be an occasion of personal glorification or a means 
of mastery over others. It becomes a trust, and the 
owner a steward. To him who obeys Jesus’ law of love, 
wealth simply affords an opportunity. 





a Luke 7:5, 
161 


a 
THE MESSAGE OF JESUS 
SSS SSS 


To such a one trying to make the kingdom of God 
first in life, Jesus said that wealth would mean two things. 

1. It would mean an opportunity to serve humanity. 
“Whosoever shall give a cup of cold water only to one 
of these little ones in the name of a disciple shall not 
lose his reward,’ 2° he said at one time. The Good 
Samaritan not only bound up the wounds of the man 
who was bleeding, but going on to the inn was able with 
his means to provide for him even after his own de- 
parture.*” The parable of Dives clothed in purple and 
fine linen and feasting sumptuously finds its point in the 
thought of how much that rich man could have done for 
the beggar at his door.?* He who has means.has not only 
his own life to give in service, but the thought and labor 
of many men stored up in the form of wealth. Love 
will rejoice in such means of service. In Palestine, where 
life was simple and social relations were for the most 
part face to face, such service usually took the form of 
personal charity, and Jesus regarded all such sincere acts 
as a fine privilege. “Sell all that ye have and give alms; 
make for yourselves purses which wax not old, a treasure 
in the heavens that faileth not.” 29 

2. But it is difficult to regard one’s wealth as a means 
to the service and help of other people. Jesus knew this 
well. All his warnings against the danger of riches go 
back to that fact. Hence he has one other thing to say 
to the man who finds means at his disposal. Just as the 
abuse of the personal and spiritual which is bound up in 


* Matthew 10: 42. * Luke 16:19, 
* Luke 10: 35, ” Luke 12: 33, 


162 





THE MESSAGE OF JESUS 





money reveals the unrighteous heart and brings God’s 
condemnation, so the right use of wealth brings in its 
train the development of character and the approval of 
God. This is the theme of practically all of Luke 16, 
which begins with the parable of the unjust steward. This 
man used wealth which was not his to make friends for 
himself against the day when his lord would take away 
his stewardship. “The sons of this world are for their 
own generation wiser than the sons of the light,” is 
Jesus’ comment on the story he had told. “And I say, 
Make to yourselves friends by means of the mammon of 
unrighteousness, that when it shall fail they may receive 
you into the eternal tabernacles.” *° When he says, “Make 
ye friends,” etc., we must remember that he is continuing 
the general picture of the parable. The main thought is 
clear. Just as the sons of this world use wealth to 
prepare for their future days, so should the sons of the 
kingdom. The right use of the mammon of unrighteous- 
ness can bring one into “the eternal tabernacles.”’ Wealth 
is simply a trust. Its stewardship is a responsibility 
whose proper execution wins God’s own approval. In 
itself it may be of little moment; in its use it may 
win for us the greatest rewards God has to give. The 
chapter from which the above quotation was made goes 
on with this thought becoming ever clearer. “He that 
is faithful in little is faithful in much; he that is une 
righteous in little is unrighteous also in much. If there- 
fore ye have not been faithful in the unrighteous mam- 
mon, who will commit to you the true riches ?” #4 





Luke 16: 8f. ™ Luke 16: 10 f. 
163 





Tue MESSAGE OF JESUS 





TOPICS AND QUESTIONS FOR DISCUSSION AND 
REVIEW 


1. What passages are sometimes quoted to show that Jesus 
forbade private property? How would you answer such a con- 
tention? 

2. State the three principles given in this study which Jesus 
taught should govern the acquisition and use of wealth. 

3. Can you show that these three principles are in fact differ- 
ent phases of one of them? State this fundamental principle. 

4. Can the acquisition of wealth in the wrong way be justified 
on the grounds that it will be generously used? 

5. In the light of Jesus’ teaching, on what basis should one 
choose an occupation? Do you think that every occupation 
should be entered with a sense of the divine call, or should that 
apply to the ministry only? 

6. Show that the possession of wealth, rightly considered, is 
a responsibility and a testing rather than an opportunity for 
personal gratification. 


CoRR. 


THE CHRISTIAN SPIRIT IN PRACTICE— 
DOMESTIC LIFE 


Tue family, at least in all modern life, is the unit of 
society. More burdens are carried by it, more is ex- 
pected of it, than of any other institution. It determines 
the lives of its members to a greater degree than any 
other factor or group of factors. Its obligations rest 
upon us more immediately and are more pressing than 
any others. It generates more devotion, and on the 
other hand more bitterness if things go wrong. It molds 
the lives of its members. It is of such primary impor- 
tance in the practical conduct of life that we do well to 
ask ourselves in this, as in the practical sphere of money, 
what it means to follow Jesus’ standard. 


I 


Now here probably more than anywhere else in this 
little book it is essential to remember the attitude of 
contemporary Judaism. The synagogue regarded the 
family with the utmost appreciation and reverence. Quo- 
tations from the Old Testament, from the Apocrypha, 
from the sayings of the rabbis on this point are so abun- 
dant as to make it difficult only to decide which ones to 
quote. The verse, “Houses and riches are an inheritance 
from fathers: but a prudent wife is from the Lord”? is 


*Proverbs 19: 14. 
165 


Ee 
THE MEsSAGE OF JESUS 
ee 


typical of much of the content of Proverbs. The divine 
sanction for marriage went back to the days of creation 
when God said, “It is not good for man to be alone.” 2 One 
rabbi went so far as to say that “God sitteth in heaven ar- 
ranging marriages.” “At marriage all sins are forgiven,” 
is a piquant saying of another. Jewish youths were sup- 
posed to be married by the age of twenty, and sometimes 
their failure so to be called forth active assistance from 
the congregation. One of the duties of parents was to 
find good husbands and wives for their children.’ 

So also in the case of children. Every reader of the 
Old Testament is familiar with the sadness of the child- 
less household. The stories of Hannah, of Rebecca, and 
of Elizabeth, the mother of John the Baptist, come readily 
to mind. Over and over again we catch phrases that 
reflect the pride and joy of the Hebrew parents in their 
children, particularly if they were boys. Ben Sirach 
found it necessary to warn his readers against caring 
too much for their sons.¢ “He that maketh too much 
of his son shall bind up his wounds.”® “Desire not 
a multitude of unprofitable children, neither delight in 
ungodly sons.”® A saying from the Talmud reads, 
“These four reckon as dead—the blind, the leper, the poor, 
and the childless.” On the other hand, affection for and 


Se Sc 


* Genesis 2: 18. 

* Ecclesiasticus 7:25. 

“Ben Sirach was a devout and patriotic Jew who wrote about 
175 B.C. He was a teacher of the youth and a typical “wise 
man.” His book, Ecclesiasticus, or, The Wisdom of Ben Sirach, 
reads much like Proverbs. 

° Ecclesiasticus 30: 7. 

° Ecclesiasticus 16: 1. 


166 


TEETER 


Tue MESSAGE OF JESUS 
SEE A ST 


obedience to parents in the strictest degree were en- 
joined upon the sons and daughters, “Honor thy father 
and thy mother”’—that was bred in the bone by many 
a precept and by constant example. 

The Jews were conspicuous in the ancient world for 
the fidelity with which marriage relations were preserved. 
The prophets and the law and the whole educational 
system by which the law was taught to the people incul- 
cated purity and condemned the adulterer. That fact 
adds more point to the repeated use of that term to 
describe Israel’s faithlessness to Jehovah. We see this 
high moral standard reflected in the writings Of yOt, 
Paul: “It is actually reported that there is fornication 
among you, and such as is not found even among the 
Gentiles.’ 7 That unconscious comparison of the stand- 
ard among Jews and among the Gentiles was not an 
expression of mere race prejudice. It was largely because 
of its high moral standard in this and several other re- 
spects that Judaism was winning converts all over the 
Roman Empire, even before the birth of Christianity. 

Thus through all Jewish life there ran this family 
emphasis. It was natural in its simpler aspects to a 
nation that had grown out of ancient tribal elements. 
The family was the unit. If a census was to be taken, it 
Should be done according to the old family lines. The 
genealogy of the people was carefully kept, both because 
of pride in the family stock and because of the necessity 
of proving membership in certain families to serve in the 
priestly occupations. Local affairs seem to have been 
pretty much run by the heads of the great houses. Patri- 
Dare Grae COR eet a a 

™1 Corinthians 5:1. 

167 


THE MESSAGE OF JESUS 


archal and hereditary ideas governed in the political realm 
rather than anything like democratic conceptions. 

But there was one dark spot in all this to which we will 
return shortly—the position of women. The old concep- 
tion of wives as property lingered from the earlier days 
of the desert. Several illustrations will suffice. First 
note the difference in what constituted technical adultery 
in the case of a man and of a woman. [In the case of a 
wife, she committed adultery if she was unfaithful, no 
matter who might be her partner. But a husband was 
not guilty of this crime unless his act was committed 
with a woman married to another man; for then he vio- 
lated the other man’s rights. In the laws of divorce the 
same attitude comes out. A husband could divorce his 
wife at will. “If she find no favor in his eyes” is the 
language of Deuteronomy 24:1. Hillel, the great rabbi 
of the first century before Christ, said, “Even if she 
spoiled his food,” though the language here may not have 
been intended literally. But a wife could not divorce 
her husband for any reason whatever. Upon certain ex- 
treme offenses she gained the right to appeal to the local 
courts for release. But even then all the court could do 
was to compel the guilty husband to divorce the innocent 
wife! 

Just in the period when Jesus lived many influences 
were coming into Palestine to change the whole set of 
attitudes and customs built up by the Jews toward the 
marriage institution. There was a sect called the Essenes 
who forbade marriage to its members as something venial. 
Greek and Roman influences were everywhere in the 
country tending to break down the strictness with which 
the Jews regarded all sex relations. One public example, 


168 





Tue MESSAGE OF JESUS 





and this in high life, is familiar to us all. Herod Antipas, 
“that fox,’ ® had married his brother Philip’s wife, an 
offense to Jewish morals that John the Baptist did not 
hesitate to condemn. In Jewish circles ideas were 
shifting. The famous rabbinical schools of Hillel and 
Shammai had engaged in a warm controversy over the 
legitimate grounds for divorce, Hillel, however, winning 
out in favor of the traditional freedom for the husband. 
Lastly, the Roman occupation of the land and the re- 
moval of all capital executions from the hands of the 
Jewish authorities had made it impossible to carry out, 
even had they wished it, the Pentateuchal law of death for 
the crime of adultery. Thus many influences were at 
work to change Jewish ideas in this sphere. 


II 


Turning to Jesus’ sayings, we find him expressing 
most beautifully the finer aspects of the synagogue’s teach- 
ing on the family. The family is the noblest institution 
on earth. The relations which exist between its members 
he makes the type and symbol of the kingdom of God. 
God is not like a priest, or king, or judge, or artist; 
he is like a father of children. That means that in Jesus’ 
thought the family had produced the noblest figure on 
earth, the character most divine—parenthood. Further- 
more we saw that when he spoke of the ideal relation 
between men and women of the kingdom he turned to 
the family for his word—they should be like brothers 
and sisters. ‘For whosoever shall do the will of God, 
OP Sr CN eal le 2 est CC eI RNS SEER 

® Luke 13: 32. 

169 


een ey 


THe MEssAGE oF JESUS 


Ee 


the same is my brother and sister and mother.” ® ‘One is 
your teacher, and ye are all brethren.’ 2° 

The claims of the family he defended against all that 
would usurp their place. He was not always a quiet 
teacher, self-contained and expressing repose in word 
and bearing. Occasionally he flamed forth in indignant 
rebuke. One of those occasions was when he spoke of 
how the religious casuistry of the hour condoned or ex- 
cused those who neglected the care of their own parents. 
‘Moses said, ‘Honor thy father and thy mother. . . ” But 
ye say, ‘If a man shall say to his father or his mother, 
That wherewith thou mightest have been profited by me 
is Corban, that is to say, Given to God, ye no longer 
suffer him to do aught for his father or his mother: 
making void the word of God by your tradition.” 1 
Toward children he had the tenderest sympathy. Not 
only should they be loved and helped; they should be 
imitated,** “for of such is the kingdom of God.” It 
were better for one “if a millstone were hanged about his 
neck and he were thrown into the sea rather than that he 
should cause one of these little ones to stumble.” 72 

This interest in the children who came about him must 
have gone back to an earlier time. Reference has been 
made to the probability that Joseph died early and the 
care of the family devolved on the young shoulders of 
Jesus. Mary’s was a household teeming with children, 





° Mark 3: 35. Mark: 74.10 € 

* Matthew 23: 8. ™ Mark 10: 14f. 

“Luke 17:2. The term “little ones” in this verse probably 
included also adults of that “childlike” character that Jesus 
praised, as well as those actually young in years. 


170 





Tue MEsSAGE OF JESUS 





six, seven, maybe eight of them.1* When later in his 
teaching he speaks of the children who come asking for 
bread and sometimes even for a fish,*® of children play- 
ing games in the market place and sometimes in sulky 
mood refusing to play,1® of people who come to borrow 
after it is dark and the children have finally been all 
gotten to bed,’ of brothers that are quick to suspect parti- 
ality and have to be reasoned out of their moodiness,** 
it sounds very much as if he is speaking from experience. 
As Glover says, “Are we to think that the tenderness of 
Jesus came to him by a miracle when he was about thirty 
years of age? Must we not think it was growing up in 
that house and in that shop? Or did he never tell a 
story—he who tells them so charmingly—till he wanted 
parables?” *° 

But we have slipped into speculation about that home of 
his own in those quiet years before he went out to listen 
to John preaching in the wilderness. What about mar- 
riage itself? That is usually the heart of the question. 
Did he appreciate that? Or did he regard marriage as 
a concession to human frailty and an impediment to 
the fullest service of God? ”° 

The problem of sex and its relations has always been 
difficult for religion to deal with. He who exalts the 
spiritual is likely to deny the bodily. Spirit must rule 
over body, therefore the body must be conquered. Thus 
has asceticism ever dogged the heels of religion. And 
where this has been avoided an opposite foe has tended 





4 Mark 6: 3. ™ Luke 11: 7. 
* Matthew 7:9, 10. *® Luke 15: 28-32. 
% Matthew 11:16, 17. ” The Jesus of History, p. 29. 


*CibCormthians:/ 27; 9, 32;'33, 
171 


Sy 


THE MEssAGE oF JEsuUS 


a ee 


to appear—license in the name of religion. The baccha- 
nalia of ancient times, the practices at various temples, the 
aberrations of sects and cults in modern days, testify to 
the danger. Sanity is never so well tested as here. What 
is spirituality? Something otherworldly, opposed to the 
normal and the healthy? Something that would take us 
out of life? Or is it something that suffuses normal life 
processes with a meaning and a light that does not come 
from the earth of which we are made? 

Fortunately we have an explicit statement as to what 
Jesus thought. It is one of those passages of critical value 
for getting at the mind of Jesus. They had asked him 
about divorce and Jesus gave in answer his whole attitude 
toward the relation of men and women. “From the be- 
ginning of the creation, male and female made he them, 
For this cause shall a man leave his father and mother 
and shall cleave to his wife; and the twain shall become 
one flesh, so that they are no more twain, but one flesh.” 21 

The thought here needs little comment. In Jesus’ opin- 
ion marriage was an institution of God corresponding to 
facts of creation. Men and women supplement one 
another, Standing alone they are incomplete. The merg- 
ing of lives together was God’s all-wise purpose and in- 
tent. The two shall become one flesh. Marriage is the 
completion of the process of creation: in entering therein 
we cooperate with God. It is not an accident, not a con- 
cession to human weakness, but the final divine gift of 
completeness of life. 

Jesus was no ascetic. The kingdom of God is not a 
I ET 

* Mark 10: 6f. 

ifx. 


Tue MESSAGE OF JESUS 


removal from life. It means carrying the mind of God 
into all of this normal healthy life which he has given us. 

“Male and female created he them; therefore shall a 
man leave his father and his mother and shall cleave unto 
his wife; and the twain shall become one flesh.” In higher 
terms than this no one can speak of marriage. Husband 
and wife have lost their lives to find a higher life, have 
died individually to find a fuller life together. 

All this appreciation of marriage and the family, shown 
especially in the use of family terms to describe the rela- 
tions of the kingdom of God, is what we would naturally 
expect from the principles that Jesus has previously laid 
down. ‘Te declared that love was the highest attribute 
of man and that it should be made universal. Naturally 
he would admire and strengthen the institution that 
creates love, that binds its members together in mutual 
devotion and service. His own language makes one quite 
safe in saying that Jesus’ whole teaching of life and duty 
might be described as simply the extension of the family 
limits so as to include all mankind. 


pie 


This reverence for the family was, as I have said, one 
of the primary tenets of Judaism and was regularly 
taught in the synagogues. It was one of the things the 
rabbis emphasized. This is undoubtedly the reason that 
we have no more pointed and explicit sayings by Jesus 
on the subject of family devotion and care. It wasn’t 
necessary in Palestine. Thus Jesus’ attitude comes out 
indirectly, for the most part in connection with what he 
has to say on other subjects. 


173 


Tue MESSAGE OF JESUS 


Explicitly and directly, Jesus rather seems interested in 
qualifying the current Jewish conception of the family. 
While he said that parenthood best represented the char- 
acter of God and that brotherhood was the essence of the 
kingdom, he set himself very explicitly to teach that one’s 
family must always be kept in a secondary position. The 
chief object of man’s interest and the scope of his en- 
deavor must be to do God’s -vill. One’s own family must 
never be exalted above that. When family ties interfere 
with doing the will of God, they must be sacrificed. He 
saw a danger to the fullest development of the moral 
character in an excessive devotion to one small group. 
The claim of the family must be subordinated to the de- 
mands of the general good. 

How we would like to make it otherwise! If we could 
only confine our unselfishness and altruism to members 
of our own family! All of us would be willing to do 
that. As Jesus said with stinging force on another occa- 
sion, “If ye love them that love you, what reward have 
ye? Do not even the publicans the same? And if ye 
salute your brethren only, what do ye more than others?” 
The one who seeks the kingdom of God will make family 
devotion but a stage or step in the service of all men. 
The warmer, closer affection of the smaller, more inti- 
mate group will always be kept in perfect harmony with 
the rights and needs of others outside. The kingdom 
of God must come first, and if it be made so, the claims 
and duties and affections of family life will fall into 
their proper place. 

This was not an abstract academic matter with Jesus, 


™ Matthew 5: 46, 47. 
174 


THE MESSAGE OF JESUS 


nor is it with us. He had to give up his own home for 
the sake of his mission, and—if the story of Mark 3:31 f. 
be properly translated—carried on his work against family 
criticism and obstruction. He saw the necessity of laying 
down as the first condition of discipleship that men must 
leave father and mother and brethren and lands and houses 
for his sake. There are some sayings in the Gospels which 
seem almost harsh in their insistence that the family is 
subordinate to the kingdom of God. “And another also 
said, I will follow thee, Lord; but first suffer me to bid 
farewell to them that are at my house. But Jesus said 
to him, No man, having put his hand to the plow, and 
looking back, is fit for the kingdom of God. .. . And he 
said to another, Follow me. But he said, Lord, suffer me 
first to go and bury my father. But he said, Leave the 
dead to bury their own dead, but go thou and publish 
abroad the kingdom of God.” ** “If any man cometh 
after me, and hateth not his own father, and mother, and 
wife, and children, and brethren, and sisters, yea, and his 
own life also, he cannot be my disciple.” 24 “Think not 
that I came to send peace upon the earth: I came not to 
send peace, but a sword. For I came to set a man at vari- 
ance against his father, and the daughter against her 
mother, and the daughter-in-law against her mother- 
in-law.” ?° 

The thought throughout all of these is very clear. It 
is summed up in Matthew 10:37 f.: “He that loveth 
father or mother more than me is not worthy of me; and 
he that loveth son or daughter more than me is not worthy 


*TLuke 9:61 f., and 59f. * Matthew 10: 34 f. 
* Luke 14: 26. 


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of me. And he that doth not take his cross and follow 
after me is not worthy of me.” The loyalty to the highest 
must be supreme. No man or woman can enter the 
kingdom of God with its sweeping vision of service to 
all of life who makes the demands of that kingdom sub- 
servient to the desire or pleasure of some individual or 
group oi individuals. “Even the Gentiles do the same.” 
Devotion to this group or that group is most worthy, but 
it must take its place in the light of the good of the 
whole. The opposite is the doctrine of “My party, right 
or wrong,’ “My country, right or wrong,’ “My own 
family, right or wrong.” Jesus condemned all such nar- 
rowing of the kingdom. 

And in so subordinating the family he lifted it, of 
course, to a higher level. It becomes in his hands an 
agent ministering to the very highest ideal of life. The 
affections which it generates sweep outside its own bounds 
to become effective for the needs of the world. Family 
devotion and loyalty become filled with a new meaning, 
and are made the agent and vehicle of the noblest 
objectives.*° 


IV, 


We have left out thus far the question of divorce and 
what Jesus said about it. It is in some of these sayings 
that we see most clearly the depth and power of his 
conception of the family. 

The Jewish custom and law have already been de- 
scribed. They sanctioned and always had _ sanctioned 
divorce by the husband with the utmost freedom. There 


* Cf. Scott, The Ethical Teaching of Jesus, pp. 96, 98. 
176 


THE MESSAGE OF JESUS 


must only be a written certificate given to the wife which 
was evidence of her right to remarry. Of course the 
rabbis built up in time various regulations which ameli- 
orated somewhat the cruelties of such a system, and no 
doubt also the great majority of Jewish marriages were 
broken only by the death of one of the parties. But in 
spite of all this, the evil was there and did not escape 
Jesus’ keen sense for moral and spiritual values. 

The passages dealing with this subject are the following: 
Mark 10:2-12 and the parallel passage Matthew 19: 3-9; 
Matthew 5: 31-32; Luke 16: 18; and finally 1 Corinthians 
7 :10-11. 

If we read these carefully, we shall observe that the 
wording of the sayings is not always the same. The 
fundamental thought is expressed in the several passages 
with differences of detail. As a result it is easy to fall 
into debate as to this or that feature of this teaching. 
For example, did Jesus forbid divorce or rather remar- 
riage? What is the relation of the uncompromising form 
of the utterances in Mark and Luke to the commands 
in Matthew which allow one exception to the principle? 
We could debate much about such questions. But through 
all of these passages there runs one clear, strong, certain 
note. In the face of contemporary practice, Jesus de- 
clared that marriage was a union and not a contract, that 
it was permanent and not subject to the inclination of 
the moment, that it was the blending of two lives, not 
a temporary association. 

Nowhere else does Jesus so elevate marriage and the 
family as here. Husband and wife belong together. Even 
though he allowed separation—as Paul certainly under- 


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THE MESSAGE OF JESUS 


stood him to allow ?’—they still belong to each other. 
The bond is so sacred and intimate that it holds even 
though they be separated from each other. Whether we 
like it or not, that seems to be Jesus’ teaching. 

We must remember that Jesus was speaking to a peo- 
ple among whom divorce was easy and had been so from 
time immemorial. Its sanction was to be found in the 
Old Testament. Furthermore, he spoke to a group among 
whom tyrannical power was possessed by the husband. 
Hence the necessity for laying down absolutely and un- 
conditionally the one principle on which the family can 
be built, the fundamental recognition of the permanency 
of marriage. 

That is the important thing. We must think and act 
and plan on the assumption that marriage is essentially 
a union of lives for life. It should be entered only with 
that thought and intention. Its problems should be met 
and considered with no other idea in mind. A separa- 
tion of husband and wife is basically wrong. That is un- 
doubtedly Jesus’ thought. 

This was because he had another solution for the dis- 
cords of family life. We small souls have nothing to 
say of these except to let the man and woman separate. 
Jesus believed in facing wrong and eliminating it, using 
the only weapons effective in such warfare. We must 
not read his teaching on divorce alone as if he simply: 
overlooked the homes where there is no harmony or peace. 
We must remember that these sayings on divorce are 
addressed to those who are trying to live in accordance 
with the laws of the kingdom. Accordingly, if the family 


*1 Corinthians 7:10, 11. 
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unhappiness be the fault of the Christian member, he or 
she will proceed at once to remove the evil and, like 
Zaccheus, make restitution many fold—the more gladly 
and willingly because the injury in this case has been 
done to one who was the object of deepest personal love. 
But suppose the hearer of this teaching be the injured 
party? Shall he or she demand certain rights or declare 
all personal obligation at an end? Did Jesus ever allow 
such an attitude? No, he declared this to be the Chris- 
tian’s opportunity, that he should turn the other cheek, 
resist not the evil, love those who persecute and do wrong. 
. If this be so in relations that are impersonal and distant, 
what is the case where the offender is the partner of 
one’s life? Jesus once told Peter to forgive seventy times 
seven. He said in the Sermon on the Mount that, when 
impressed, we should carry the bundle a second mile. 
How many applicants for divorces have first tried such 
solutions? Paul was only echoing Jesus when he wrote 
that thirteenth chapter of 1 Corinthians. “Love suffereth 
long, and is kind; love envieth not, love vaunteth not it- 
self, is not puffed up... seeketh not its own, is not 
provoked . .. beareth all things, believeth all things, 
hopeth all things, endureth all things. Love never fails.” 
It is against the background of this teaching of forgive- 
ness and the changing of evil into good that Jesus’ teaching 
about divorce must be read. 

The application of this teaching to our own day is, of 
course, full of the most difficult questions. It may well 
be, indeed it seems evident in many a case, that although 
wrong, a separation, whether temporary or made perma- 
nent by divorce, is the lesser of two evils. People do 
make shipwreck of their lives and there are conditions 


179 


THE MESSAGE OF JESUS 





under which it seems impossible for true home life ever 
to be recreated. But even here the underlying principle 
of Jesus’ teaching remains. Such events are personal 
and social disasters. They should be the very last resort, 
and be entered only with sadness and a sense of shameful 
failure. That is the Christian view. Instead, we have 
grown into a state of mind where divorce is the normal 
or semi-normal experience. It is regarded with equa- 
nimity both by the parties themselves and by the general 
public. Without carrying Jesus’ teaching to unwise 
extremes, are we not faced with the necessity of redis- 
covering his spiritual ideal of marriage? With so many 
marriages ending in the divorce courts, and the joy and 
gladness of weddings turning into the bitterness and acri- 
mony of divorce proceedings, we need grievously to find 
again the more enduring basis of marriage that Jesus 
taught, that it is a sacred institution in which both partici- 
pants merge themselves into a high and permanent union. 

But our interest in the practical side of this question 
has made us overlook one of the greatest elements in these 
sayings on divorce. Ordinarily when we think of the 
rightfulness of divorce, we moderns pose the question in 
this form: “Has not an innocent woman the right to 
rid herself of a brute of a husband?” Now the interest- 
ing thing is that this alternative probably never occurred 
to Jesus’ hearers. The only kind of divorce they knew 
anything about was the free divorce of wives by hus- 
bands. His words, therefore, rather meant to them such 
a championing of the cause of woman as they had not 
heard before. He challenged their whole man-made 
system of superiority, the unjust power of divorce which 
they wielded, the cruel inferiority and dependence which 


180 





THE MESSAGE OF JESUS 





were forced upon women. He declared that in marriage 
women had the same rights as men. “Whosoever shall 
put away his wife, and marry another, committeth adultery 
against her” **—this was revolutionary. From the days 
of the Mosaic law, Jewish husbands had enjoyed that 
privilege. So amazing was it that in the account of this 
saying in Matthew we are told that the disciples replied, 
“Tf this is the case of a man with his wife then it is not 
expedient to marry”! °° To their minds, marriage on such 
a basis was hardly conceivable, so rigidly does the custom 
of centuries set our minds. Jesus thus raised woman’s 
place in the family to a point of absolute equality with 
that of man. In marriage there are equal obligations be- 
fore God. There is a union in equality which goes back 
to the divine purpose in creation. 

In this connection I can do no better than to quote 
from a very scholarly and widely read book written by 
one who would not call himself a Christian with the 
special desire to do justice to the religion of the Phari- 
sees: “Jesus had occasion to meditate profoundly upon 
the treatment accorded to women in his age and by his 
people, and he expressed in word and deed convictions 
on this subject that are as important to-day as they were 
then. . . . His sympathy with women led him to condemn 
the Mosaic legislation in this matter, and to contrast its 
discrimination in favor of the man with the equality im- 
plied in the narrative of man’s creation. At bottom it is 
an appeal from human legislation to the divinely ordained 
nature of man and woman. Such is the relation between 
man and woman as a result of creation and consequent 


% Mark 10: 11. * Matthew 19: 10. 
181 


Le 
Tue MESSAGE OF JESUS 


ee 


natural peculiarity of forming a unity by supplementing 
each other, that it cannot be right to allow a man to send 
away his wife in order to take another, and thus to leave 
a woman at the mercy of her husband’s caprice. In so 
far Jesus . . . made himself one of the great champions 
of woman’s cause.” °° 


QUESTIONS FOR REVIEW AND DISCUSSION 


1. What was the Jewish attitude in Jesus’ day toward (a) mar- 
riage, (b) children, (c) divorce, (d) the relative authority of 
husband and wife? 

2. In what direct and indirect ways did Jesus emphasize the 
value of family life? 

3. In what respects is the kingdom of God like a family? 

4. Must devotion to one’s family be the supreme ideal in life? 
Quote at least two sayings of Jesus on this subject. 

5. Apply the principle of Question 4 to the problem of loyalty 
to one’s country. To one’s particular race. 

6. Is divorce always wrong? 

7. What is the Christian solution for domestic infelicity? 


a 


*° Montefiore: The Synoptic Gospels, pp. 509, 510. 


182 


CHAPTER XI 
THE REWARDS OF THE KINGDOM 
I 


Tuus far we have been speaking of the kind of life 
that Jesus said should be lived by those who entered 
the kingdom of God. We have read much about duties 
and obligations, the demands he made on men, the re- 
nunciations which he declared were essential to becoming 
his disciple. But the primary impression that Jesus’ teach- 
ing made on men was quite different—that he came 
preaching good news. And so true was this that the early 
Christians called his message by that very title, “The 
Good News,” which by the curious accidents of language 
has been translated into English by the one word “gospel.” 
So whenever we use the word gospel we bear testimony 
to the joyous character of the message that Jesus gave. 

We saw in Chapters III and IV that this good news was 
summed up in the announcement that the long awaited 
“kingdom of God” was at hand. And this meant in the 
language and thought of the day that God was ready to 
give his richest blessings. 

_ Scarcely can we realize what this announcement meant 
to those Jews who listened. Schooled for centuries to be- 
lieve that God some day would pour out upon their nation 
supernatural blessings, they now heard a teacher of mag- 
netic personality and remarkable power announcing that 
it was actually to happen shortly. What many prophets 


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and kings desired to see would come to pass in their day.” 
Their minds flew immediately to dreams of catastrophic 
happenings and miraculous transformations. They 
crowded around the teacher and awaited new miracles. 
They wanted signs and wonders. They could not believe 
that the richest divine blessings would not mean a magic 
realm far different from simple homely Palestine. So 
it is with us all. Our longings are for fairy lands from 
which the familiar obstacles and daily drudgeries are 
banished. It is hard for us to conceive God’s richest 
blessings in a setting that is commonplace. Yet that is 
just what the teacher kept trying to tell them, that the 
kingdom which he announced would begin in the familiar 
scenes of Judea and Galilee, and that the great con- 
summation was in the future. Many of them never un- 
derstood, but carried their own impression even until 
after Jesus was killed by the leaders at Jerusalem. Some 
followed until they saw what he meant and then lost 
interest and went home. 

But to return to the “good news.” Jesus spoke much 
of the blessings which were ready for men. He described 
the life of the kingdom, urged men to enter into it, and 
then stressed the rewards which would be theirs. What 
they would lose would be far outweighed by the value 
of the rewards. The kingdom is “like unto a treasure 
hidden in a field; which a man found and hid; and in 
his joy goeth and selleth all that he hath and buyeth 
that field.” ? It is like the “pearl of great price,’ worth 
more than all else that the merchant possesses.® 


*Luke 10: 24. * Matthew 13: 46. 
*Matthew 13: 44. 


184 





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Note how frequently Jesus describes the members of 
the kingdom as “blessed.” “Blessed are they that have 
been persecuted for righteousness’ sake: for theirs is the 
kingdom of heaven.” * “Blessed are the poor in spirit: 
for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.’’® “Blessed are 
the pure in heart: for they shall see God.’’® When a 
woman praised him, he replied, “Nay, blessed are they 
who know the will of God, and do it.’* We must not 
lose the force of that word “blessed.” ‘Happy is that 
one,” so Weymouth translates it. It is a word‘used in 
private letters of the day in expressions of warmest con- 
gratulation. Only as used in the Gospels there is added 
a definite religious idea—“happy in the enjoyment of 
the blessings of God.” 

This thought of the richness of the reward is not acci- 
dentally attached to Jesus’ main thought, but is one of 
his primary conceptions. “Love your enemies, and do 
them good, lend, never despairing; and your reward shall 
be great, and ye shall be sons of the Most High.” ® Better 
bodily dismemberment than miss the kingdom. “If thine 
eye cause thee to stumble, cast it out: it is better for thee 
to enter into the kingdom of God with one eye, than 
having two eyes to be cast into hell.” ° The reward is sure. 
Even deeds done in secret will not be overlooked: “Thy 
father which seeth in secret shall recompense thee.” *° 
“Whosoever shall give to drink unto one of these little 
ones a cup of cold water only in the name of a disciple, 


*Matthew 5: 10. § Luke 6: 35. 

* Matthew 5: 3. ° Mark 9: 47. 

* Matthew 5: 8. ” Matthew 6:4, 6. 
"Luke 11: 28. 


185 


THE MESSAGE OF JESUS 


verily I say unto you, he shall in no wise lose his 
reward,” 14 


II 


So outstanding is this whole thought of reward in 
Jesus’ sayings that it has frequently been charged that 
Christianity is a doctrine of selfishness, that it bids us 
do good in order to get something. It is pointed out 
that certain pagan moralities, particularly Stoicism, in- 
sisted on duty for its own sake without thought of reward. 
In comparison the ethical teaching of Jesus is thus assigned 
a lower place.’” 

But we have seen that Jesus was the first to criticize 
this unlovely type of goodness when he saw it in men 
around him. A good act done from a selfish motive, 
whether it be public charity or prayer in the market place, 
brought his scathing criticism. The people who perform 
worthy deeds ‘‘to be seen of men” “have their reward,” 7% 
but it is not the reward of the Father in heaven. The 
sayings in Luke 6: 32-34 condemn specifically such selfish 
goodness: “If ye do good to them that do good to you, 
what thank have you? for even sinners do the same. And 
if ye lend to them of whom ye hope to receive, what thank 
have ye? . . . Even sinners lend to sinners in order to re- 
ceive again as much.” Such sayings and many others 
preclude the idea that Jesus allowed his disciples to “do 
good hoping to receive.’ But we do not need such 
specific sayings. The whole tenor of Jesus’ teaching on 


“ Matthew 10: 42. 

“For the treatment given this topic cf. Scott, The Ethical 
Teaching of Jesus, p. 63 £. 

* Matthew 6:2, 5. 


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THE MESSAGE OF JESUS 
eS OT RE DOE DSRS SSE AIP eA ES SAP SAS SIE CDSEO BY ATAU WSTIOSESIS IE ESAS BERRI DLA TET TRL ATE 


righteousness demands a devotion of the whole man to 
such a degree as to make impossible anything like a selfish 
morality. 

What, then, is the point of all these sayings of reward? 
We seem to have a conflict. On the one hand, Jesus tells 
us that the motive of all action must be love of others 
and not thought of self; on the other hand, he holds up 
to us this thought of a great reward. The answer involves 
two or three principles. 

In the first place, Jesus speaks of a reward from God, 
never from men. He turns the motive away from the 
approval of men to the approval of God. Notice, for ex- 
ample, how constantly in the Sermon on the Mount he 
enjoined his hearers to act, not for the approval of men, 
but of God, “who sees in secret.” 

And there is a vast difference between working for 
God’s approval and seeking a reward from men. In the 
former case no outward show or pretense will suffice, but 
only the genuine devotion of the life. As Paul said later, 
“Tf I bestow all my goods to feed the poor . . . but have 
not love, it profiteth me nothing.’ +* God sees into the 
inner heart and motive. He sees things as they really 
are. Hence there is eliminated all the insincerity and 
duplicity that attends working for human reward. For 
one cannot lie to God, as Peter said to Ananias and 
Sapphira. To seek God’s approval and his recompense 
means in the very nature of the case to love sincerely and 
to act honestly. 

And with this understood, working for a reward simply 
means trusting God that altruistic service to our fellow- 





41 Corinthians 13: 3. 
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THE MESSAGE OF JESUS 





men will result in the highest and the best in life for 
ourselves. We give ourselves here in sincerely unselfish 
service and leave the personal result to God, confident 
that such a devotion of our energies and our thought will 
not lead to genuine loss. Jesus’ teaching of reward from 
God is ultimately an assertion that goodness is not some- 
thing alien in the midst of an evil universe, standing by 
itself, but that goodness lies at the heart of things; and an 
ordering of life according to its standards is highest wis- 
dom for the individual as well as for society. It is no 
discredit to his teaching that it emphasizes this trust in 
God’s care over his own. 

But there is still a third factor in this teaching con- 
cerning reward. Jesus taught that we never really earn 
this reward from God. “All we like sheep have gone 
astray.”” Remember what was said in an earlier chapter 
on humility. The ideal of character is infinite, and before 
that standard no man can feel self-righteous or meri- 
torious. “Were the eighteen on whom the tower at 
Siloam fell and killed them, think ye that they were sinners 
above all the men that dwell in Jerusalem? I tell you, 
Nay: but, except ye repent, ye shall all likewise perish.” *° 
No man deserves God’s reward. We are like the workers 
in the vineyard who were hired at the eleventh hour. Of 
course they did not earn their pay. Why then did they 
receive it? Only because the master of that vineyard 
was ready to give the recompense whether earned or no. 
“Ts it not lawful for me to do what I will with mine own?” 
says the master of the vineyard to his critics. “Is thine 
eye evil because I am good?’ 7° 


*® Luke 13:4 f. 7° Matthew 20: 15. 
188 


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We must not think of ourselves as earning the divine 
blessings. The reward is out of proportion to our 
deserts. We might better say that God’s blessings are free 
gifts flowing out of his love to those who set their hearts 
toward the kingdom and the obedience which it implies. 
God gives good things unto his children; they do not earn 
them—that is Jesus’ thought. “Fear not, little flock; it 
is your Father’s good pleasure to give you the king- 
dom.” +7 “Verily I say unto you, whosoever shall not 
recewve the kingdom of God as a little child, shall in no wise 
enter therein.’”’*% The prodigal son finally resolved to 
return, hoping only to be made one of the hired servants, 
but the father in the story ran to greet him while yet afar 
off and ordered for him the most sumptuous entertain- 
ment.'® In such sayings there comes out the thought that 
the blessings of the kingdom are really a divine gift to 
men and women who fall far short of earning or deserv- 
ing them. 

Thus while Jesus uses the word reward, and speaks 
of working for it, what he really does is to assure men 
that their trust in God and in God’s way of life is not 
misplaced. God is a father who is waiting to give of his 
blessings in showering abundance, far in excess of what 
we deserve. From his teaching on the reward of good- 
ness, the insincere motive is gone, the self-righteousness 
of the Pharisees is gone, and humility and gratitude and 
joy take their place. When one sees the character of God 
that Jesus revealed, the motive for doing good becomes 
devotion and love rather than a desire to earn a reward. 


™ Luke 12: 32. * Luke 15:21; 
*% Mark 10: 15. 


189 


EE 


Tue MESSAGE OF JESUS 


a eee et 


There is a vast difference between this and a selfish 
morality. 


Ill 


But what is the reward or blessing which God will 
give? Did Jesus promise material blessings? We re- 
ferred above to the fact that many people have understood 
him so to speak. The passages, “Seek ye first his king- 
dom, and its righteousness; and all these things shall be 
added unto you,” 2° and the promise in Mark 10:29 of a 
hundredfold of all houses and lands given up for the 
cause, are quoted in support of the contention. Is ma- 
terial wealth the blessing that God waits eagerly to give? 

We may dismiss this interpretation. Wealth is not 
always a blessing. Jesus himself insisted on its risk to 
the soul. “Keep yourselves from all covetousness.”’ ** 
“Ve cannot serve God and mammon.”* “Lay not up 
for yourselves treasures upon earth.” ** “It is easier for 
a camel to go through the eye of a needle, than for a rich 
man to enter the kingdom.” 24 But apart from the moral 
risk of money, Jesus made it clear that it was not the 
greatest blessing. “A man’s life consisteth not in the 
abundance of things that he possesseth.” °° “What doth 
it profit a man to gain the whole world . . .” provided he 
miss something else??* Over against the “unrighteous 
mammon” there is a “true riches.” 27. Even our own ex- 
periences in life, limited as they are, show us that riches 
are not final or satisfactory in themselves, but only of 


ee D 


® Matthew 6: 33. * Mark 10: 25. 
2 Luke 12: 15. 5 Tuke 12: 15. 
= Matthew 6: 24. * Matthew 16: 26. 
7 Matthew 6: 19. 7 Luke 16: 11. 


190 





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value as serving toward other ends. The verses which 
are alleged to prove that Jesus taught a materialistic re- 
ward to those who obey God’s will clearly have another 
meaning. And if one will take the trouble to read these 
carefully in their own setting, there will not be much 
difficulty in discovering their real import. Matthew 6: 33, 
for example, as the preceding verses show, is certainly 
a promise of all necessary food and clothing rather than 
of the accumulation of wealth. 

Similar to this suggestion is the view that the reward 
of the kingdom is immunity from all physical ills. I 
remember some years ago a very devoted Sunday school 
teacher who maintained most sincerely that a real Chris- 
tian should have no fear of dangerous animals or bodily 
ills. He cited the verse in Luke 10:19, “Behold, I have 
given you authority to tread upon serpents and scorpions, 
and over all the power of the enemy; and nothing shall 
in any wise hurt you.”” Paul’s trials and afflictions ought 
to have been a sufficient refutation of the interpretation. 
But we need not go that far. Jesus himself, as we have 
seen, foretold persecutions and trials, even death to some. 
The sons of Zebedee were to drink of the same cup of 
which he was to drink. The shepherd was to be smitten 
and the sheep scattered. Peter’s viewpoint, that such 
sufferings should not come to the Messiah, ‘‘mindest not 
the things of God, but the things of men.” 78 

The Gospels show us that Jesus would have been the 
first to condemn a life of physical ease untouched by any 
trial and vitalized by no possible danger. That idea is 
below the elevation of his view of life. To him it was a 


*° Mark 8: 33. 
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Tue MEsSAGE OF JESUS 





thing to be bravely hazarded and freely given. “Blessed 
are those who are persecuted for righteousness’ sake.” 
“Blessed are ye, when men shall reproach you, and perse- 
cute you, and say all manner of evil against you falsely, for 
my sake. Rejoice, and be exceeding glad.” °° All the 
great ones of the past had been so treated. The mantle of 
prophecy involves persecutions. 


IV 


What, then, is the reward of fidelity to Christ, if it is 
not wealth and if it is not safety? For the clearest state- 
ment of our answer we must go to the Fourth Gospel. 
It is life itself. What else could be adequate? Jesus 
calls upon men to give up all for the sake of the kingdom, 
to make it the one dominating object of life. If riches 
conflict with that aim, we must, like the rich young man, 
give our wealth away. If love of family interferes, then 
it is necessary to disregard father and mother and brother 
and sister. If necessary, we must cut off the hand or 
pluck out the eye. It is all or nothing. Consecration of 
part of life is of no value. We must “lose our lives,” as 
Jesus said. What reward can be commensurate with such 
a loss except the discovery of a better life? Just as in 
the sacrifice, so also in the recompense; no halfway meas- 
ures will avail. 

I said that John’s Gospel gives the answer most clearly. 
Over and over Jesus is recorded as declaring that the 
reward of obeying his commands would be life. “I came 
that they may have life, and have it abundantly,” °° “And 


*® Matthew 5: 10-12. * John 10: 10. 
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ye will not come to me that ye may have life” *\—many 
such passages occur in the Gospel of John. This same 
fundamental thought is also found in the Synoptic Gos- 
pels. It is in one of the great central passages of Jesus’ 
sayings—Mark 8: 35-37: ‘Whosoever shall lose his life 
for my sake and the gospel’s shall save it. . . . For what 
doth it profit a man to gain the whole world and forfeit 
his life? For what should a man give in exchange for 
his life?” The reward of the kingdom is not something 
arbitrarily tacked on to experience, something valuable 
perhaps, but which one could do without. It is rather a 
reward which is to be found in the very center of life, 
enriching and blessing every phase of its activity. It is 
the gift of life in its truest sense. As Professor Scott has 
suggested, just as the reward for being a good citizen 
is not some purse or prize, but the enjoyment of the 
life of a citizen, so performing the duties of the kingdom 
finds its reward in the kind of life which the kingdom 
imparts. 

And how, in Jesus’ thought, does the service of the 
kingdom enable one really to find life? In what specific 
ways is experience made richer and finer? How are those 
who do the will of God deserving to be called blessed? 
There are a number of things which Jesus had to say 
here. 

1. In the first place, he laid it down that this sort of 
life is everlasting. It leads to the kingdom in the heavens. 
“They shall receive houses and brethren . . . now in this 
time, and in the world to come eternal life.” 9? “Great is 
your reward in heaven,” is one of the refrains of the 





=John 5: 40. ™ Mark 10: 30. 
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EEE aaa 


Sermon on the Mount. “Every one therefore who shall 
confess me before men, him will I also confess before my 
Father which is in heaven.” ** ‘Many shall come from 
the east and the west, and shall sit down with Abraham and 
Isaac and Jacob in the kingdom of heaven.” ** We must 
never forget this confident hope, else we are sure to get a 
distorted picture of our Lord’s teaching. He did not teach 
merely an ethical system. What he had to say about 
duties here was uttered against the background of a life 
to come. Surely, then, it is the height of folly to store 
one’s barns with corn and to think only of eating, drink- 
ing, and being merry, and to ignore the great future which 
looms ahead. 

For the “sons of the kingdom” that future life is to be 
one of the most complete bliss. Several times he followed 
a precedent of the rabbis and spoke of it under the figure 
of a great banquet. “Verily I say unto you, I will no 
more drink of the fruit of the vine until that day when 
I drink it new in the kingdom of God.” ** By the figure 
he clearly meant that gladness and rejoicing would reign 
universally. He spoke of the association with the great 
figures of the past, Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob,** and of 
the angels who are the ministers of the kingdom.** But 
he never let himself be drawn into an attempt to describe 
the nature of that heavenly life. Amid all the nagging 
and baiting that surrounded him, Jesus never lost his 
saneness and balance. Why propound these puzzles as 
to the resurrection, whose wife will the woman with seven 
husbands be, and all the other questions that can be 


3 Matthew 10: 32. * Matthew 8: 11. 
4 Matthew 8:11. ™ Mark 12:25. 
> Mark 14: 25. 


194 a 





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asked? For that life will be totally different from this 
earthly existence. “For when they shall rise from the 
dead, they neither marry nor are given in marriage; but 
are as the angels in heaven.” ** The pictures of the ban- 
quet are only figures. The “great gulf” and all the rest 
of it are only spatial terms which we are compelled to use. 
It is a spiritual, not a material existence. The only kind 
of life we know anything about is this bodily one; what 
a life after death will be like we must leave in the hands 
of God. 

How do we know there will be any such thing? That 
was the argument the Sadducees had been making for a 
hundred years. It is interesting to notice the answer that 
Jesus made to them. He quoted from the Old Testament 
a passage about the character of God.*® And in essence 
that is the only argument he makes: the Scriptures show 
that God is of a certain character. And after all, is that 
not our simplest and most abiding ground for hope, the 
nature and character of God as Jesus described him? 
There are figures and there are analogies, but the only 
firm assurance is belief in a God of love who “will not 
leave us in the dust.” At any rate, that is what Jesus 
answered to those who doubted in his day. 

This emphasis on the other life has produced some of 
the world’s greatest characters. It has released man from 
bondage to the present. It is only dangerous and other- 
worldly in a bad sense when men hold it to the exclusion 
of any interest in this present world, in which men must 
live and children grow. Jesus did not make that mistake. 
He declared that the service of the kingdom also increases 





® Mark 12:25. ® Mark 12:26, 27. 
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immeasurably the richness of the life that now is. How is 
this the case? 

2. There is a many-sided answer to this question. 

(1) I begin with what Jesus said about the material 
things of life. He did not promise wealth and prosperity, 
as we have seen, but he did quite boldly declare that one 
of the blessings of the kingdom will be the assurance of a 
heavenly Father’s care. And he means this in quite ma- 
terial things. Just as God feeds the sparrows and clothes 
the lilies, so will he provide for us. In one beautiful 
figure after another this thought is presented in the sixth 
chapter of Matthew. “Behold the birds of the air.” 
“Consider the lilies of the field.” “And which of you by 
being anxious can add one cubit to his stature?” “But 
if God so clothe the grass of the field which to-day is, 
and to-morrow is cast into the oven, shall he not much 
more clothe you, O ye of little faith? Be not therefore 
anxious, saying, What shall we eat? or What shall we 
drink? or Wherewithal shall we be clothed? ... For 
your heavenly Father knoweth that ye have need of all 
these things.” *° That last phrase gives the secret. These 
things are necessary—at least as long as it is the will of 
God that we remain in the world at all—and God is ready 
to provide for our needs. Indeed, he thinks first of these 
needs of ours: “Your Father knoweth what ye have 
need of before ye ask him.” 4? 

And is this teaching of God’s providence so hard to 
believe? Let us remember several things. First, we must 
not forget, as has been said, that Jesus is not promising 
wealth, the laying up of treasure. He has in mind only 


“Matthew 6: 25-32. “ Matthew 6: 8. 
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what is actually needed for life. The member of the 
kingdom has put other things above money. Further- 
more, remember that such an individual will not be a 
parasite upon his fellow-men. The kingdom means serv- 
ice, not dependence on others. Jesus is certainly not in- 
culcating a disposition that sits idly by and prays the 
Lord to provide while other men are at work doing the 
labor of the world. The law of love would never allow 
such an attitude. Then we must remember that this indi- 
vidual always has in mind in his labor the needs of 
humanity. His life’s work serves others. Is it unrea- 
sonable to believe that such a life can be sure of enough 
to eat and drink? Possibly we can construct imaginary 
cases to the contrary, but for most Christians in this age 
the answer is quite evident. We assume it in all our daily 
thought. And if we ourselves are ready to admit the 
truth that Jesus spoke, let us cease regarding these say- 
ings as the dream of an idealist.*2 Of course, as society 
becomes progressively dominated by the ideals of the king- 
dom, the truth of this assurance of a sufficiency for life 
becomes more obvious. 

But it is interesting to notice in the same passage the 
use to which our Lord puts this confident trust. He seems 
interested not so much in the food and drink and clothing 


“It might be asked, Is not the assurance of the necessities of 
life as great for the selfish individual as for one trying to serve 
the kingdom? The answer is quite certainly, No. Society 
has no need of the former. It can dispense with the work and 
with the presence of one who does not serve in any way. But 
only by ignorance will society ever fail to give to the latter its 
unwavering support and protection. Our whole wage system and 
salary system is theoretically based on this premise of propor- 
tionate reward to him who serves society most. 


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in themselves as in the effect of this trust upon the human 
spirit. ‘‘Be not anxious, be not anxious, be not anxious” 
—that is the refrain. He sees in this gift of God’s care 
the liberation of mankind from the burden that he has been 
carrying through the ages. Thrift, prudence, industry, 
yes, by all means; but thrift and industry without the 
worries and fears that undermine our health and tear 
our spirits. We dream of a sense of security and slave 
feverishly at our tasks, hoping by the success of years 
to attain it. Jesus declared that this security was at hand 
if only we would realize it. It is to be obtained not by 
years of arduous toil, but by learning the simple lesson of 
the fatherhood of God. In perfect trust and confidence 
Jesus said that we should pray, “Give us this day our 
daily bread.” ** As members of the kingdom we can be 
sure of a Father who will “add these things” according to 
our need. 

(ii) But this thought merges into that of a more gen- 
eral phase of the reward. The life of the kingdom re- 
moves all the anxiety and fear and worry which come to us 
because of our competition and strife with other men. 
Can we keep up in the race with the people around us? 
Will this issue turn out right? Is this decision we have 
made the right one? Will the important position come 
to us or to the other man? These and a hundred other 
problems are malignant spirits that will not leave us in 
peace. To the man or woman who has made the kingdom 
first in life, such attitudes and anxieties are impossible. 

For Jesus’ teaching cuts away the reins with which we 





* Matthew 6: 11. 
198 





THE MEssAGE OF JESUS 





are being driven. If service becomes our motive and not 
rivalry, the race to outdo and surpass others is over, once 
and for all. The outlook on life is changed, the ends to 
be sought are different. The old yearning for wealth and 
power and mastery are removed. We work with and 
for, not against our fellow-men. Nor can such a spirit 
stand in fear of possible failure. In every situation and in 
every circumstance a loving spirit can find opportunity 
to serve. The aim of life has become one which neither 
accident nor evil can thwart. The haunting fear of ulti- 
mate failure can be laughed out of court, for the individual 
has set himself to contribute to the utmost of his power 
to the health, happiness, and good of those around him. 
The richness of such a life of ministering cannot be taken 
away. 

This message of life’s happiness to be found in a differ- 
ent direction than the one in which we ordinarily pursue 
it was never more needed than to-day. We let our lives 
be directed by arbitrary and external standards. We 
measure success by something accidental and uncertain. 
Success lies within life, not outside it. It consists in the 
wise and efficient use of the chance to work and to serve. 
To the man or woman who sees that clearly and puts it 
in practice there comes calmness and peace and freedom. 

(111) In the third place, the service of the kingdom of 
God brings peace with oneself. Our lives are all at cross 
purposes. We have desires which conflict and aims which 
are contradictory. We gratify part of our nature to the 
remorse and destruction of our other selves. Paul put it 
to himself in the familiar words, “The good which I 
would, I do not: but the evil which I wouid not, that I 


199 


eS 
THe MESSAGE OF JESUS 
a 


practice.” ** Quite apart from the specifically good and 
evil, we achieve little unity for our lives. We chase this 
rainbow and that will-of-the-wisp. Jesus called upon men 
to make a complete break with the old life and consecrate 
themselves, deed and thought, person and property, the 
present and the future, to the one ideal of the kingdom 
of God. He declared—though not in so many words— 
that only thus could any satisfactory unity of the inner 
life be achieved. To try to find a harmony of purposes 
in selfishness results in starving the soul of all that is 
finest ; and to adopt any narrower limit of devotion than 
the full kingdom of God on earth soon entangles the 
individual in inevitable contradictions, hesitancies, com- 
promises, conflicts. The complete devotion of the whole 
self to the kingdom of God is the only answer to the 
inner problem of life. Jesus called it “rest for your 
souls” in that beautiful passage, “Come unto me, all ye 
that labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. 
. .. And ye shall find rest for your souls.” 4® To the 
man who can make the decision and maintain it, the inner 
struggle is over. Henceforth he is devoted to the great, 
comprehensive aim of Jesus, an aim which finds its most 
immediate application to those closest about him, but which 
includes all mankind in its scope. The ultimate issues 
are decided. There is calmness in the depths. The prob- 
lems that remain are those of method and application. 

(iv) Then, next, there is the reward of perfect social 
relations. How much of the value of life comes from per- 
sonal relations! There are, of course, satisfactions which 
are quite impersonal—food when hungry, a warm bed in 
SR eo seen CN A 

“Romans 7: 19, “ Matthew 11: 28. 
200 


NA SESE re Coan ee cl en ee 
. THe MESSAGE OF JESUS 

Le SEEN EAM OT  Ls ee eaeee  eoe e 
winter, the pursuit of knowledge for its own sake, the en- 
joyment of natural beauty. But when these things have 
been quite sufficiently recognized, how barren they tend to 
become without those personal values which our nature 
craves. Run over the interests and activities of the day 
and consider how empty life would become if human rela- 
tions were taken out, how vital they are to the completion 
of the normal life of man. Membership in the kingdom 
of God means that there has taken place a right ordering 
of all personal relations. Hate, suspicion, and antagonism 
are eliminated. The circle of friendship is enlarged and 
deepened. The human ties that bind us to others are 
multiplied and made stronger. Life finds its purpose for 
others, the individual becomes, in the root meaning of the 
Latin word, altruistic. He lives for others and, as a result, 
bodily and mentally with others. The emphasis in life 
falls on personality and its values. 

Hence, naturally, all values that flow into life from the 
right ordering of our relations to other individuals are 
multiplied like the seed which fell on the good ground. 
The elements which make one’s family the most blessed 
thing on earth are extended indefinitely. Brotherhood 
assumed at the beginning as an obligation becomes by 
practice a treasure discovered anew each day. The gen- 
erous attitude toward all is transformed into the warmth 
and wealth of human friendship. Love, the duty, finds its 
own reward. 

That is what Jesus meant when he gave Peter that 
amazing answer. “Peter began to say, Lo, we have left 
all and followed thee. Jesus said, There is no man who 
hath left house, or brethren, or sisters, or mother, or father, 
or children, or lands . . . but he shall receive an hundred- 


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fold now in this time, houses, and brethren, and sisters, and 
mothers, and children, and lands, with persecutions.” * 
For such a man enters into the great family of humanity. 
Such a man, who loves his neighbor as himself, possesses 
in his heart of hearts many lands and many houses; lands 
which serve his deepest purposes of supporting the hungry 
of the world, houses that care for his brother's comfort 
and which lodge those whom he delights to serve. Such a 
man possesses the universe, because he has taken unto 
his heart the men and women and children who live 
therein. 

(v) Lastly, Jesus spoke of a reward that transcends the 
relations of time and space. He spoke of fellowship with 
God. 

Again and again in this little book we have seen how 
everything goes back to that thought. It is the foundation 
of all else that he said. The first commandment of all 
is to love God, to love him “with all thy heart, and all 
thy soul, and all thy mind, and all thy strength.” * 
“Blessed are the pure in heart,”’ he said, because “they shall 
see God.” #8 When the disciples returned from their first 
missionary journey, elated over their success, he pointed 
them to the real ground of rejoicing—not that they had 
power over demons, but “rejoice that your names are 
written in heaven.” #° In Jesus’ mind this was the greatest 
and most inclusive good of life. 

It is dangerous to attempt to elaborate this thought. 
There are three aspects, however, which are especially 
evident. In the first place, it is a fellowship of character 


“@ Mark 10: 28-30. * Matthew 5:8. 
“Mark 12: 30. “Luke 10: 20. 


202 





THE MESSAGE OF JESUS 





and purpose. The thing that Jesus aimed at was that 
men should become Godlike in life. Recall the verses 
on forgiving your enemies: “that ye may become sons of 
your Father in heaven, for he makes the sun to rise upon 
the evil and the good.” *° Apart from such “becoming 
like him” all claims of fellowship with the divine, Jesus 
would have said, are self-deceptions. This is a sobering 
thought. There have been many kinds of mystics and 
many sorts of emotional experiences in the realm of reli- 
gion. No sooner had the Christian Church begun than the 
problem arose of those who claimed to be prophets and 
to speak by special and personal revelation. Jesus sup- 
plied the standard for testing all such spirits and such 
experiences—the simple rule, “by their fruits ye shall 
know them.” 

Then notice that to this likeness of character and purpose 
results in a lifting of the horizon of life. It means essen- 
tially that we are to look at the world and at our own lives 
from the divine viewpoint, to see them as God sees them. 
There is a new perspective in all things. No longer are 
things seen from the narrow horizon of our personally cen- 
tered experience ; but rather, if I may borrow the phrase of 
a great philosopher, sub specie ternitatis, “in the light of 
all eternity.” Even one standing afar off can see the 
meaning and purpose thus infused into life. We enter 
into the purposes of God, the enriching and blessing of all 
life. We become fellow-workers in his creative plan. A 
sense of mission comes upon us. Weare lifted out of the 
trivial routine and enter into the succession of the saints 
and pioneers of the faith. 





© Matthew 5: 45. 
203 





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And third, an aspect which includes all others: this 
fellowship means a constant sense of the nearness of 
God. Every page of our Gospels shows how Jesus pos- 
sessed that sense. It lies back of such sayings as “Con- 
sider the lilies of the field: your Father clothes them,” 
“Behold the birds of the heavens, your Father feedeth 
them.” It was his strength in hours like the cleansing of 
the Temple and the lonely vigil in Gethsemane. The indi- 
vidual who possesses that consciousness of God moves in 
a world where he is at home because it is a world that 
God has made; the grass is a carpet that he has spread 
and the sunshine and rain are his daily ministrations. 
And such an individual thinks and acts no longer in his 
own power alone. A Father’s care and a Father’s strength 
are constantly about him. And the companion of his 
thought is a moral perfection that transforms his selfish- 
ness and his weakness into loving courage. 


Looking back over this chapter the question recurs, Is 
the kingdom of God the pearl of great price? Is it 
worth the renunciation of all else? Is the return more 
than what is given up? No one can answer that for an- 
other. Each man must find the ends and values of life 
for himself. But we can see now what is involved in 
the question. The issue is simply whether the ends of 
life are within personality and its relations to other indi- 
viduals, or in something external to it. The reward of 
the kingdom as Jesus taught it is the enriching, broaden- 
ing, and continuation of personal experience—‘“life, and 
that more abundantly.” 5! 





* John 10: 10. 
204 





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QUESTIONS FOR DISCUSSION AND REVIEW 


1. What is the meaning of the word “gospel”? 

2. Is it necessarily wrong to do good for a reward? Wherein 
lies the moral danger of such a motive? How does the teaching 
of Jesus preclude this? 

3. Recall Jesus’ description of righteousness. How would a 
truly good or righteous man use wealth? Show how incon- 
sistent Jesus’ teaching would be if wealth were declared to be 
the reward of goodness. 

4. If all members of society were dominated by the ideals of 
the kingdom of God, do you think that poverty would still 
exist? Give reasons for your answer. 

5. What do you think is the meaning of the passage, “Come 
unto me, all ye that labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you 
rest... . And ye shall find rest for your souls”? 

6. What elements make Christmas the happiest season of the 
year? Does the life of the kingdom of God develop or weaken 
this element in life? 


205 


CHAP TERUXIT 
JESUS AND THE KINGDOM 
I 


Many of us have been accustomed to think of Jesus 
as suddenly appearing in Galilee after his years of 
preparation, announcing to the people that he was the 
expected Messiah, performing various miracles to prove 
the statement, and calling upon men to accept his claims 
and follow his commands. That seems to us the natural 
thing for him to have done. But it was not Jesus’ method. 
He did go through the towns and villages with a great an- 
nouncement, and he did stir the whole district with his 
wonderful deeds of healing. But the proclamation that 
he made was not about himself, nor were the miracles 
merely “signs” to convince an unbelieving people. 

He began his work, according to Mark, in the follow- 
ing way: “After John was delivered up, Jesus came into 
Galilee, preaching the gospel of God, and saying, The 
time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God is at hand: 
repent, and believe in the good news.” * Matthew says 
that the subject of this preaching was, “Repent, for the 
kingdom of heaven is at hand.” ? Obviously there was 
much more than just these words, but they contain the 
subject of his preaching. It was about God and his rule. 


*Mark 1:14, 15. I have substituted the words “good news” 
for “gospel” at the end of the sentence. See Chapter XI. 
* Matthew 4: 17. 


206 “ 


SS Se ors ps pSSSSSSsSSSnSSSNSSUSRSSSSASSG 


THE MESSAGE OF JESUS 


SS SSS 


Jesus placed before his hearers the challenge of the 
kingdom of God and would not let them divert him to 
other topics. By the seaside, on a mountain slope, in 
a house, sitting in a boat, at the synagogue service, he 
kept speaking of God and what was involved in his com- 
plete rule over life. He talked about the value of being 
in that divine “kingdom,” the kind of life that it de- 
manded, the danger of neglecting the invitation. And like 
his predecessor, John, he called on those who heard him 
to repent that they might not be left outside. Interrup- 
tions of all sorts occurred, from possessed people, from 
the religious leaders, from the civil authorities, Still he 
kept to his theme, teaching the multitudes about God and 
his way of righteousness. 

If we turn to the sayings which the Gospels have pre- 
served from this Galilean ministry, we may see for our- 
selves that this was the content of his message. Take the 
Sermon on the Mount as the clearest example. Here is a 
discourse, three chapters long in the first Gospel, which 
Matthew and Luke both give as an illustration of his 
teaching. It is all about the life of the kingdom. The 
people who are truly blessed, the right way to pray and 
fast and give alms, the loving care of God, the new right- 
€ousness compared with the old law, the folly of neglect- 
ing God’s message—these are the subjects he talks about. 
As we read these sayings one after another—pearls on a 
string, they have been called—we can see how Jesus was 
holding up to his hearers the picture of a new life, show- 
ing now one side of it, now another, enticing, persuading, 
warning. But there is nothing about himself, his title, 
his authority, except at the close where he emphatically 

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rejects one who hails him personally as Lord, but “does 
not the will of my Father in heaven.” ® 

Mark does not have much teaching material, especially 
in the first half of his Gospel. Aside from special say- 
ings on particular occasions, there are in the first half of 
his Gospel only three sections of discourse, all short: 
the series of parables on the kingdom,* the charge to 
the disciples departing for their first missionary effort,® 
and the sayings about what makes one clean or unclean.® 
In all of these there is that same absence of sayings about 
himself and his own place in the divine plan. He con- 
stantly talked about God and his perfect rule, and he 
quietly lived according to it. 

There were individuals who caught glimpses of a 
deeper significance in his person than he expressly as- 
serted. There was a sick man once who cried out suddenly 
in the synagogue, “Thou Jesus of Nazareth! I know thee 
who thou art, the Holy One of God.”* But Jesus re- 
buked him and said, “Hold thy peace.” At the close of 
that Sabbath day in Capernaum when he healed many 
sick at the door of Peter’s house, there were evidently a 
number of such cases. “He cast out many devils,” says 
the Evangelist, “and he suffered not the devils to speak, 
because they knew him.” *® Later we read that certain 
other unclean spirits cried out at him, ““Thou art the Son 
of God,” and that “he charged them much that they 
should not make him known.” ® When at Czsarea Phil- 
ippi the disciples themselves finally reached their great 





* Matthew 7: 21. "Mark 1: 24. 
*Mark 4. ® Mark 1: 34. 
* Mark 6: 7-11. ° Mark 3: 12. 
* Mark 7. 


208 “ 





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confession, we are expressly told again that Jesus “charged 
them that they should tell no man of him.” ?° Instead of 
making an open claim to his unique authority and position 
he seems rather to have restrained those who would make 
such claims on his behalf. 

The multitude took him for a prophet, one of the 
great ones of Israel. After witnessing the raising of the 
son of the widow of Nain, “they glorified God, saying, A 
great prophet is risen among us.” 14 The disciples told 
Jesus that men thought of him as “John the Baptist, 
Elijah, or one of the prophets.” 12 Even at the close of 
his work when he made his triumphal entry into Jerusalem 
and when all the city was stirred, wondering who he 
might be, we are told that “the multitudes said, This is 
the prophet, Jesus, from Nazareth of Galilee.”1% So 
again the scribes and Pharisees, though they wished to 
destroy him, “feared the multitudes, because they took him 
for a prophet.” ** We even find that he acquiesced in 
the title, using it occasionally of himself. ‘A prophet is 
not without honor save in his own country,” he de- 
clared of himself. And he said to the friendly Pharisees 
who informed him of Herod’s intention to kill him, “I 
must go on my way to-day and to-morrow and the day 
following; for it cannot be that a prophet perish outside 
of Jerusalem.” *® Thus according to the Synoptic Gos- 
pels Jesus said nothing himself as to his Messiahship, 
restrained others who wished to make it public, and ac- 





*® Mark 8: 30. “4 Matthew 21: 46. 
™ Luke 7: 16. * Mark 6: 4. 
*™ Mark 8:28. * Luke 13: 33, 


* Matthew 21: 11. 
209 





THE MESSAGE OF JESUS 





cepted without question or qualification the title of one of 
Israel’s prophets. 


II 


These facts are enough to show that Jesus did not 
go about Galilee announcing his Messiahship and asking 
men to believe him. He intentionally subordinates all 
such personal definitions and appraisals to the message of 
God’s kingdom. This need not disturb us. It is easy 
to see what he had in mind. To have announced that the 
Messiah, expected for centuries, had at last appeared would 
have thrown the nation into an uproar of excitement and 
misunderstanding. For there were various views in the 
Palestine of our Lord’s day as to the nature and task of 
the Messiah, and each man would interpret the news ac- 
cording to his own presuppositions and desires. To some 
it would mean a war of political liberation. Certainly the 
Roman authorities would interpret the announcement in 
this way and act accordingly. Disturbance on the one 
hand and incredulity on the other would attend him wher- 
ever he went. And this tumult and excitement would 
make impossible his primary object, to bring Israel to 
rethink God and his relation to their lives. The atten- 
tion of the multitudes would be irretrievably diverted 
from that new picture of life and that fresh revelation of 
God which he set himself to give. 

There is a story in Mark—it is the sequel to the healing 
of the people at Peter’s door referred to above—which 
gives a clear indication of this attitude of Jesus. Early 
the next morning, before anyone else was about, Jesus 
slipped out of the town and departed into a desert place. 
“And Simon and those with him followed after him; and 


210 


any 
THE MEsSAGE OF JESUS 





they found him, and say unto him, All are seeking thee. 
And he saith unto them, Let us go elsewhere into the 
next towns, that I may preach there also; for to this end 
came I forth.’*” From the excitement and notoriety he 
fled away. In the face of such a situation he could not 
bring about that repentance of the heart which he sought. 
This would be accomplished by instruction, exhortation, 
and example, not by gathering together great crowds 
curious to see some marvelous work. 

But there was a deeper reason than this certainty of ex- 
citement and confusion which lay back of Jesus’ refusal 
to speak of his own position and authority. He preferred 
that men might see his work and learn from it how to 
regard him. It was easy to claim to be the Anointed One. 
Many impostors had already done that, men like the 
wandering Egyptian mentioned in Acts 21:38 who, ac- 
cording to Josephus, led thirty thousand people out to the 
Mount of Olives to witness the fall of Jerusalem. Such 
men came through the country gathering the credulous and 
gullible to their banner. Jesus cared for no such follow- 
ing. He did not ask that men should confess any faith 
in him apart from a knowledge of what he taught and the 
ideals for which he stood. “By their fruits ye shall know 
them,” ** he declared many times to his own disciples, and 
he did not ask men to suspend this test in his own case. 
He asked for disciples who would believe in him and his 
mission on the basis of a realization of his meaning for 
Israel rather than on any personal claim that he might 
make. 

Note the way in which Jesus called men to discipleship. 





* Mark 1:36 f. * Matthew 7:16 and elsewhere. 
214 





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He did not begin by demanding that they should believe 
something about him, but that they should believe in him 
and in the message that he spoke. “Come after me,” 
he said to Simon and Andrew, “and I will make you to 
become fishers of men.” ?® That was a call for codpera- 
tion with him in the task. He passed by the tollhouse 
where sat Matthew, the publican, taking in the customs, 
and said to him only, “Follow me.” 2° And Matthew rose 
and followed him because his heart responded to the op- 
portunity of allegiance to such a cause and such a leader. 
To the rich young man who came running to him he com- 
manded that he sell all that he had, give it to the poor, 
and come and join him in his work.?!_ He called another 
who asked if he might first return and bury his father. 
“Leave the dead to bury their own dead, but go thou and 
publish abroad the kingdom of God,” was the reply he 
gave.*” In all these cases we observe that Jesus makes 
the work of the kingdom the basis for fellowship with 
and recognition of himself. 

Then consider the way in which he dealt with the 
Twelve. He called them, Mark says, “that they might 
be with him.” ?* They were men of spiritual appreciation 
and promise. They were eager for the coming of the 
kingdom and went out on Jesus’ command to proclaim it 
through the cities of Israel. And yet it is quite evident, 
from the account of the great confession at Czsarea 
Philippi, that during all this earlier period they had not yet 
come to the realization that he, their leader, was the 
a EE 

* Mark 1: 17, * Luke 9: 60. 


»* ‘Matthew 9: 9. *™ Mark 3: 14. 
™ Mark 10: 17 f. 


212 - 





THE MESSAGE OF JESUS 





Messiah. Nor had he ever told them. It was Peter who 
made the great confession, and Jesus’ reply to him was, 
“Blessed art thou, Simon Bar-Jonah: for flesh and blood 
hath not revealed it unto thee, but my Father which is in 
heaven.” 24 He called these specially chosen ones that 
they might be with him and come to know him, and he left 
their decision concerning him to flow from that ex- 
perience. 

But there is an even clearer illustration still. The grow- 
ing reputation of Jesus reached John as he lay in prison. 
He sent two of his disciples with directions to ask the 
specific question, “Art thou he that cometh, or look we 
for another?”2> The reply which Jesus makes to so 
direct a question from the man whom he called the ex- 
pected Elijah is very significant. “Go your way and tell 
John the things which ye do hear and see: the blind re- 
ceive their sight, and the lame walk, the lepers are cleansed, 
and the deaf hear, and the dead are raised up, and the poor 
have good tidings preached to them. And blessed 1s he, 
whosoever shall find none occasion of stumbling in me.” 
What does he mean? Simply that John must make the 
blessing of mankind which Jesus was accomplishing the 
basis of any decision concerning him. He makes no de- 
mand, he utters no claim, he tells of no inner experience ; 
But blessed is the man with the eyes to see. Jesus never 
forced his Messiahship upon anyone, but let it grow in- 
evitably, irresistibly out of knowledge of himself and his 
work. 





* Matthew 16: 17. 
* Matthew 11:3 f. and Luke 7: 19 f. 


213 





Tue MESSAGE OF JESUS 





ITI 


But Jesus is inseparably bound up with those prin- 
ciples and ideals which he taught and by which he lived. 
He did not speak of something abstract, a theory or a 
philosophy, but of a practical way of living. And he 
personified that way of life, was both its evangel and its 
example. Hence the attitude that men took toward the 
kingdom was most clearly and most quickly revealed by 
the attitude which they displayed toward him. He summed 
up and expressed that new life of which he spoke, in 
his teaching of men, in the good that he went about doing, 
in his strong and universal love, in his opposition to cer- 
tain institutions and practices. And men showed even in 
spite of themselves their attitude toward that kind of life 
by the response which they made to Jesus. As John’s 
Gospel put it, “This is judgment, that the light is come 
into the world, and men loved the darkness rather than 
the light.” 76 

This fact Jesus fully recognized and makes clear in all 
his ministry. It is involved of course in his imperative 
command that men should leave their fishing nets, their 
tollgates, even the obsequies of deceased parents, and 
should accept his leadership and example. “Blessed is 
he who shall find no occasion of stumbling in me,” he 
said to the messengers of John the Baptist. “Whoso- 
ever shall lose his life for my sake and the gospel’s shall 
find it.” ?"’ “Verily there is no man who hath left house 
or brethren or sisters or mother or father or children or 


Stare entrar rel ae ee en eae Se 
* John 3: 19. 
™ Mark 8:35; Matthew 10:39; Matthew 16: 25, and Luke 9:24 
(with minor variations in the wording of the second phrase). 


214 





THE MESSAGE OF JESUS 





lands for my sake and the gospel’s . . .” but will receive 
a hundredfold reward. ‘Blessed are ye when men shall 
reproach you, and persecute you, and say all manner of 
evil against you falsely, for my sake. Rejoice, and be ex- 
ceeding glad.” 28 These examples taken at random from 
his sayings show that Jesus did not hesitate for one 
moment to demand loyalty to himself. He was fully 
conscious of his mission as founder and representative of 
God’s kingdom, and he called unto himself the allegiance 
and devotion of those who would enter therein. 

Some of the disciples understood this to involve per- 
sonal ministry and service to him as an individual. It 
was natural that they should want to give it, and Jesus 
appreciated the love that prompted such acts. Witness 
his consideration of and thanks to the woman who came 
into the house and bathed his feet with the precious oint- 
ment. But this was not the kind of service that he 
demanded of men. ‘The Son of man came not to be min- 
istered unto, but to minister.” °° There is a most interest- 
ing story which Luke preserves of a journey through 
Samaria. Evening coming on, “he sent messengers be- 
fore his face; and they went, and entered into a village of 
the Samaritans, to make ready for him. And they would 
not receive him, because his face was as though he were 
going to Jerusalem. And when his disciples James and 
John saw this, they said, Lord, wilt thou that we bid fire 
to come down from heaven, and consume them?” *° But 
the inhospitality of these Samaritans had no reference 
to the work that Jesus was accomplishing or the spirit 





* Matthew 5:11, 12. Luke 9: 52. 
® Mark 10: 45. 


215 


nner ee ere SS SSS 
THE MEssAGE oF JESUS 
SS 


he represented. To them he was merely a Jew traveling 
through their country, very likely against his own desire. 
They had never heard of him before and never expected 
to see him again. In such cases Jesus demanded no more 
consideration for himself than for other individuals. “He 
turned,” goes on the narrative with vivid brevity, “and 
rebuked them. And they went unto another village.” 
The loyalty that he demanded was to himself as the rep- 
resentative of the kingdom and was to be expressed in 
obedience to implications of that great ideal. He asked 
neither that men should apply to him some set title or 
description, nor that they render physical service to his 
person. He required only that they should meet the 
moral challenge of his life and work. 

This is the thought that lies behind Jesus’ reply to 
John on another occasion when that disciple demonstrated 
his partisan spirit. The story this time is told by Mark. 
“John said unto him, Master, we saw one casting out 
devils in thy name: and we forbade him, because he 
followed not us. But Jesus said, Forbid him not: for 
there is no man which shall do a mighty work in my name, 
and be able quickly to speak evil of me.” ** It was enough 
for Jesus that the man was doing the work of the king- 
dom. 

But perhaps the most striking of all the sayings or 
incidents which express this attitude is the oft-quoted 
(though not always happily quoted) verse about the sin 
against the Holy Spirit. This occurs in Jesus’ reply to 
the charge of the Pharisees that by the power of Beelze- 
bub, the prince of devils, he performed his marvelous 
repr att ce ch ee Ce ae | oa 

* Mark 9: 38, 39, 

216 "4 


THE MESSAGE OF JESUS 





works, and in particular his cure of a possessed person. 
A more malignant charge cannot be imagined. In his 
reply Jesus distinguished between insults that were purely 
personal and those which attacked through him the good- 
ness and love that he represented. To take such obvious 
blessings as had been witnessed in this case and describe 
them as works of the devil evidenced an intentional malice 
that could not take for granted God’s readiness to forgive. 
“Whosoever shall speak a word against the Son of man, 
it shall be forgiven him; but whosoever shall speak a 
word against the Holy Spirit, it shall not be forgiven 
him.” 22. Thus he made sharp distinction between him- 
self as an individual and as the agent or representative of 
the spiritual forces of God. 

As leader of the cause of the kingdom Jesus demanded 
personal loyalty and obedience. When the Jews asked 
him for his authority, he asked whence was the authority 
of John, whose inexorable moral demands and stern mes- 
sage of judgment had shaken the conscience of the nation. 
Was it from men or from heaven? ** His own authority 
was from the same source, only more complete in pro- 
portion to the greater significance of that which he was 
accomplishing. 


IV, 


If it be asked, What was the thing of such perma- 
nent significance that he regarded himself as doing? 
it will be answered, The establishment of God’s kingdom 
on earth. In many ways he was conscious of accom- 
plishing this. In the first place, we find that he claimed 





Matthew 12: 32. 3 Mark 11: 30. 
217 





THE MESSAGE OF JESUS 





to teach men the true way of righteousness, the kind of 
life that pleases God. “Everyone therefore which hear- 
eth these words of mine, and doeth them, shall be likened 
unto a wise man, who founded his house upon a rock. 
. . . And everyone who heareth these words, and doeth 
them not, shall be likened unto a foolish man, who built 
his house upon the sand.” ** “Whosoever shall break 
one of the least of these commandments, and shall teach 
men so, shall be called least in the kingdom of heaven: 
but whosoever shall do and teach them shall be called 
great in the kingdom of heaven.” *® “Whosoever shall 
be ashamed of me and my words . . . of him shall the Son 
of man be ashamed when he comes in the glory of his 
Father.” °* Thus he claimed to reveal a final ethic of life, 
and he called men to seek salvation by obedience to his 
commands. 

In the second place, his teaching shows that he was 
conscious of giving a fresh vision of God and his char- 
acter. The Christian world has always turned to Jesus 
for its knowledge of God. He lived so constantly in the 
presence of God, he saw so clearly his love and his care, 
that he spoke with an authority that never wavered. His 
parables of the lost sheep, the lost coin, and the prodigal 
son, his sayings on the necessity of moral character for 
God’s approval, his picture of the divine care even of the 
sparrow and the grass, have become the permanent treas- 
ures of the race. The very fact of such teaching implies 
a consciousness on Jesus’ part that his primary task was 
to reveal God. But beyond all implication or inference 


4 Matthew 7: 24. % Mark 8: 38. 
*® Matthew 5:19. 


218 


THe MESSAGE OF JESUS 


are several sayings, the most important of which is the 
one in Matthew 11:27 and Luke 10:21: “All things 
have been delivered unto me of my Father: and no man 
knoweth the Son, save the Father; neither doth anyone 
know the Father, save the Son, and he to whomsoever the 
Son willeth to reveal him.” He was founding the king- 
dom by making Israel see anew the God whose will was 
its law. 

Then again he saw the kingdom coming in the effec- 
tiveness of his own work. We have quoted earlier the 
saying, “If I by the Spirit of God cast out demons, then 
has the kingdom of God come upon you.” That saying 
referred to the striking way in which his ministry was re- 
moving the physical ills which afflicted men and women. 
More important than this was the change in the inner lives 
of men and women who came in contact with him. He 
saw them renouncing their selfishness and taking upon 
themselves, or rather, within themselves, the rule of God. 
Zaccheus, who renounced his extortion, the woman to 
whom much was forgiven because she loved much, Peter 
and Andrew, who left their nets—these are only glimpses 
that we get of the moral transformation that went on 
around him. Many times he had occasion to say, as to the 
scribe of Mark 12: 32, “Thou art not far from the king- 
dom of God.” 

To some, however, it might appear that instead of estab- 
lishing the kingdom he ended his life in humiliation and 
defeat. Judas thought this of it as he saw drawing ever 
nearer the high cross and the mocking soldiers. The 
eleven others saw in the impending event only a ghastly 
execution and the deathblow to all their hopes. But Jesus 
said to them that even this death was part of his contri- 


219 


Tue MESSAGE OF JESUS 





bution to God’s perfect rule on earth. In symbolism that 
they never forgot he declared that his body would be 
broken for them and his blood shed on their behalf.%? 
Since it was not the will of his Father that this cup pass 
by, the Son of Man would gladly “give his life as a 
ransom for many.” ** Behind that Roman execution, in 
God’s providence, he saw the coming of the kingdom. 
And every cross which Christian devotion has lifted since, 
whether on lofty cathedral or on rude walls amid savage 
tribes, bears testimony to the fact that he was not deceived. 
On the hill called Golgotha, outside the city walls, he 
carried his mission to its conclusion and its culmination. 

In all this he was conscious of establishing the king- 
dom. And as those peasants and fisherfolk followed with 
him they too became conscious of it. Thus they acclaimed 
him Messiah, “The Anointed One,” who would bring 
God’s rule. Loyalty to the ideal and faith in it were iden- 
tical with loyalty and devotion to himself. 

He was the founder of the kingdom. He was its reali- 
zation and embodiment as well. That which his teaching 
describes and illustrates in the abstract, his life presents 
in the person. He and the cause are inseparable. It was 
true then, it is true now. No man can be devoted to the 
brotherhood of man and hate Jesus. No man can admire 
service and despise Jesus. One cannot accept his teach- 
ing and reject him. Only ignorance of his real character 
and personality can ever make possible a separation. He 
will ever be the leader of the cause, he will always be at 
the head of the column. So long as love shall be the ideal 
of life, that long will Jesus be the leader of our souls. 


* Mark 14: 22-24. * Mark 10: 45. 
220 





THE MESSAGE OF JESUS 





For religion is a personal thing. It can never become 
an abstract principle. It is a way of living. But this is 
something that cannot be read in a book or understood 
by disputation and discussion. Jesus chose his disciples 
that they might be with him, and that has been the Chris- 
tian secret ever since. Drop out the person of Jesus 
from the gospel, and it becomes an ethical system, con- 
vincing perhaps in its wisdom and insight, but not im- 
pelling. Jesus talked about a new character, life lived in 
ordinary surroundings from a new center. In himself 
we see what such life actually means, because we see 
what it involves in our kind of world. It will always be 
true that the words of Jesus are most valuable as showing 
the kind of heart and soul from which they sprang. We, 
like early disciples, strive always behind the deed or the 
word to apprehend that life of Jesus which was his great- 
est gift to the world. 


Thus far are we led in our study. But this is not the end 
of the story. The Synoptic Gospels give us the facts of 
Jesus’ earthly life and ministry. They were written first— 
a vivid, compelling story poured out by enthusiastic souls 
who at the time were converting the centers of the Roman 
Empire. But there was much meaning in their story 
that only time and reflection would bring out. The sig- 
nificance of much that Jesus said had not yet been grasped, 
and a full expression of what he meant to the world was 
yet to be stated. At the close of the century, when Jeru- 
salem had been destroyed for nearly a generation and the 
gospel was entering in earnest its conquest of the Greek 
and Roman world, John wrote his Gospel. It is not merely 
another account, additional and supplementary to the 


221 





THE MESSAGE OF JESUS 





Synoptic Gospels. It is rather the completion and inter- 
pretation of the message which these Gospels give. Thus 
our study leads us—as every study of the life and teach- 
ing of Jesus must lead—to the Fourth Gospel. But to 
this study another volume in this series of books will be 
devoted. 


QUESTIONS FOR DISCUSSION AND REVIEW 


1. Why did Jesus during his Galilean ministry prefer not to 
announce his Messiahship to the public? Do you think Peter’s 
confession means more when read in this light? 

2. Did Jesus demand the personal allegiance of his hearers? 
Support your answer by several quotations. How was this al- 
legiance to be shown? 

3. Interpret the passage, “John said unto him, Master, we 
saw one casting out devils in thy name; and we forbade him, 
because he followed not us. Jesus said, Forbid him not: for 
there is no man that shall do a mighty work in my name, and be 
able quickly to speak evil of me.” (Mark 9:38.) How would 
you apply this to modern conditions? 7 

4. State the three different means given in the text by which 
Jesus was establishing the kingdom. Are these really separate 
activities or do they all merge into one another? 

5. How did the disciples regard the approaching crucifixion? 
What was Jesus’ teaching concerning it? 

6. Can one be a Christian without loyalty and devotion to — 
Jesus? Can one be devoted to Jesus and his objectives and not 
be a Christian? 

7. What are the primary topics treated by the Fourth Gospel? 
(See John 3:16 for suggestions.) 


222 


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